


Thing of Doom

by sunalso



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Porn With Plot, Sorry Not Sorry, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:13:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AtS S5. Things go a little off canon in Destiny and Buffy ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for. Human? Demon? What makes Spike who he is and what’s a girl to do with the love of her life when he’s double the trouble?</p><p>This is what happens when Gort feeds one of Sunalso's plot bunnies after midnight. I wrote it, she beta'd it, and there might have been wine involved.</p><p>This is an entirely Spuffy fic, even though I had to slap that threesome tag on it. (Spike's Demon/Buffy/William)  The only other warning is that I'm not very nice to Angel in this story.</p><p>Archived at AO3 and EF ONLY!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sad

I walked into such a sad time at the station

                -Cream, “White Room”

****

The sun was shining bright and cheerily in the sky, but the weather still wasn’t really warm. Scotland was never warm. She missed California and the balmy weather. Buffy missed a lot of things: Mr. Gordo, the Espresso Pump, In n’ Out Burger, her house, her mom. Spike. Oh, nope. She wasn’t supposed to think about him. Couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t.

She sat down on the dirt track with a rush of breath. Her hands squeezed into fists in her lap. The other Slayers, who she’d just led through a training exercise, stopped their babble and stared at her. One squatted down in front of her and laid a concerned hand on her knee. Buffy couldn’t remember the brunette girl’s name. Sally? Shelly? The girl was new and didn’t know how things worked.

“You okay?” Sally-or-maybe-Shelly asked.

“No!” Buffy snarled.

The girl gave an exasperated sigh. “I was just asking. No need to get all snotty.”

Buffy glared. One more word and the girl would be sporting a nice, new black eye. Another one of the Slayers grabbed Sally-or-maybe-Shelly’s shirt and pulled her away from Buffy.

In a not-very-quiet whisper the girl updated the newbie. “Give it up, Sara. When Buffy gets mopey like this we just go away. Destroying the Hellmouth in California made her all weird or something.”

Buffy bit her lip. She hadn’t destroyed anything.  That’d been… She jammed the heels of her hands into her eyes until she saw bright flashes of light.

“We’ll see you back at the castle, okay?’ Another one of the girls asked.

Buffy nodded. She sat hunched up until they were gone, and then she started crying. The tears were for everyone and everything because they couldn’t just be for him. So much lost and gone and she was mourning a vampire that she wasn’t even sure had known how much she’d cared about him at the end. How much she’d loved him.

Eventually, she ran out of tears and they were replaced by white-hot anger directed squarely at herself. Buffy jumped to her feet and started walking, back ramrod straight, towards the Slayer base. She’d been so stupid. Sure, that last night sleeping wrapped up in Spike’s arms had been nice. But why hadn’t she rolled over and kissed him? Or put her hands down his pants? She could have shown him he was loved. Only, god, would he have thought he was nothing but a comfort screw? That she was just using him again?

How had she messed up being with Spike? It should have been easy.

She was so angry and hurt and…and…sad. Tears threatened again as the gloomy castle loomed closer.

Buffy knew her whole body was radiating anger. Damn it! She should have made love to him. Then fucked his brains out while screaming ‘I love you’ the entire night. Stupid soul-having idiot couldn’t have denied her then. In fact, screw the entire world. Spike and she should have stayed in that basement and done nothing but hump while the Turok-Han and the First Evil had taken over and destroyed the world. Jeez, she and Spike could still be there, making with the happy, while the world went all to hell.

Not that her vampire champion would have remotely let that happen.

Ugh!

The heavy wood door separating the courtyard of the castle from the heart of the command center slammed against the stone wall as she stormed into the room’s dark interior. Blue light from the numerous screens and monitors lit everything with a ghastly glow.  

“Buffy!” It was Willow, someone Buffy couldn’t ignore.

“What?” she snapped. Buffy had been trying to decide if it’d be more productive to head to the training room and beat the snot out of a punching bag, or to lock herself in her room and finally make use of that dildo she’d bought on a dare from Dawn two months ago. She’d been leaning towards relieving the sexual frustration, even if her fingers and indifferent plastic were a poor substitute for what she could never have again.

“Erm. It’s Angel.” Willow held out the silver cell phone in her hand like it was about to bite her. “He’s saying it’s really important.”

Oh, Christ-on-a-stick, Angel was the last person she wanted to be thinking about right now. Why couldn’t she have told him to wear the damned amulet? Probably because Angel burning from the inside out with perfect love was something that would happen exactly never. At least in that scenario they’d all be equally dead. Though, if the world had to have ended, she rather preferred her screwing Spike endlessly in the basement scenario much better.

She put the phone to her ear. “This had better be good,” she barked into the receiver.

“Uh, Hello. Hi. Ah, Buffy, we have a problem here.” His voice sounded tinny and far away.

“So I gather. Spill.”

“Well, you see. Um.”

She was going to kill him. The first transatlantic vampire dusting by phone. “Out with it.”

“Spike. He’s here, and…”

The cell phone hit the stone floor. Buffy whirled and grabbed Willow. “Angel’s office. Now.”

Willow’s eye went wide. “Sure,” she breathed and wrapped her arms securely around Buffy before grabbing the bracelet on her wrist and activating the emergency teleportation spell she carried on her at all times.

There was a sickening spinning, lurching feeling and Buffy and Willow were standing in the obnoxiously expensive offices of Wolfram and Hart in L.A.

Buffy’s eyes darted around the room before settling venomously on Angel. The vampire still had his phone in his hand and was gaping at her.

“Where is he?” she demanded. Her voice was icy cold.

Angel closed his cell phone with a snap and set it on his desk. “There was a problem-“

“Where.”

“Look, Buffy, let me update you with what’s going on.”

She was bristling. “Fast.”

“Here’s the thing. Someone sent the amulet Spike was wearing when he died to our offices. We have no idea who sent it or how they got ahold of it. I opened the envelope containing the amulet and Spike reformed right in front of me. Only he was a ghost, more or less.”

“When?” Air. There wasn’t enough air in the room and she couldn’t breathe.

“About nineteen days after the destruction of Sunnydale.” Angel said it like it was irrelevant. A trivial fact.

 Buffy hit the floor on her hands and knees. She’d been mourning Spike for months and he’d been here? There wasn’t much in her stomach but it all came up anyway, right onto the stupidly expensive rug.

Willow knelt beside her and put a hand on her back. “Keep talking,” the witch told a stunned Angel.

“Uh, he was tied to the amulet and couldn’t leave the building. He also couldn’t touch anything, or do much besides annoy us by talking. He’s pretty good at that, as I’m sure you know.”

Willow helped Buffy to her feet. The room reeled again. Spike had been here for months. She’d cried oceans of tears over him and no one had picked up a phone to say he was still around? Big whoop that all he could do was talk. She’d have cut her own heart out for the chance to sit and chat with him. Her anger doubled, then tripled. Her baleful gaze made Angel flinch. She was going to make him so much dust in a second.

“Yesterday we got a second package,” Angel continued, not meeting Buffy’s eyes. “When it was opened there was a flash of light and then Spike was corporal, but with a problem.” Angel hesitated, frowning.

“Talk,” Buffy commanded. She didn’t care what the problem was, because she loved Spike and they’d overcome it.

“He wasn’t exactly himself, anymore,” Angel hedged and Buffy wondered if she’d feel anything at all if she staked him, or if she’d just be mad at getting his dust on her new boots. Beside her, Willow nudged her hand and passed her a tissue. She wiped her lips and gratefully accepted the mint the witch gave her.

The candy cracking between her teeth had Angel wincing and taking a step away from her. What could be so bad that he didn’t want to tell her? Had Spike switched genders? It’d be weird but she could totally be gay for him…her…whatever.

Angel swallowed hard. “Somehow he ended up split.”

“Huh?” She shared a confused look with Willow.

“When the light was gone he was two separate beings: the demon and a soul-having human.”

“What did you do?” Willow asked. Buffy was grateful. Talking was nearly impossible for her around the emotions caught in her throat.

“The demon side seems feral. It can’t speak or hide its fangs and ridges. But we couldn’t stake it as we don’t actually know that doing so wouldn’t kill the human part of him as well. And…” Angel shuffled his feet. “The human part is refusing to talk to anyone expect you, Buffy.”

It was all very overwhelming. Her heart had thawed and was beating a mile a minute over the fact that Spike wanted to see her.

“And this happened yesterday?” Willow narrowed her gaze at Angel. “And you’re just now calling Buffy?”

“We’d…I’d hope he might see reason but this morning he finally just started begging: ’Please, let me see her. Please, let me see Buffy.’ I was out of other options.”

Willow’s soft hand on Buffy’s arm was all that was keeping her from pulling Angel’s head off barehanded. Spike had been pleading for her? “Where?” she managed to grate out around her clenched teeth.

“Because of the feral nature of the demon we had to cage it, and the human part as well as it didn’t want to be separated from its other half.” Angel crossed his arms over his chest as if he was protecting his heart. “Follow me.” He edged his way out from behind the desk and ushered the two women out of his office.

Buffy was barely able to contain her need to hit something. Or someone.

As they waited for the elevator Angel put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to see you,” he whispered in her ear. In one smooth motion she grabbed his hand off her shoulder, pivoted to face him, and very calmly broke the fingers that’d touched her. The crack was audible and Angel snarled in shock.

“No,” Buffy calmly said before walking onto the waiting elevator car. Angel followed. He was grimacing and shaking his broken hand while awkwardly using the other to press the button and type in a code for the floor they needed.  There was silence as the elevator descended. Willow was nervously biting on her lip and kept looking back and forth between Buffy and Angel. Buffy tried to give her friend a reassuring smile since most likely Willow wouldn’t have to resort to magic to keep her from killing Angel. Maybe.

They exited into a cold room filled with monitors and buzzing florescent lights.

“We have him in this containment area.” Angel waved them over to where a bored looking tech watched grainy black and white monitors that rested on a table next to a huge metal door. The thing probably could keep King Kong contained, let alone a single vampire. Buffy’s eyes were glued to the monitors. There were two figures, neither one moving, inside clear-walled cages in a stark white room. Her heart jumped into her throat.

With a wail, she turned and snapped her fist into Angel’s face. The bones of his nose shattered satisfyingly under her knuckles. “How dare you!” she screamed. The techs and guards around the room had stood up and started drawing weapons. Angel had one hand over his nose trying to stem the flow of blood, but he held the other up in a clear gesture for everyone else to wait. Buffy was shaking. “That room! Spike was tortured by the Initiative. Starved. Drugged. He was held in clear-fronted cells in endless white hallways and you, his family, put him back in one!”

Angel looked ghoulish with the blood pouring down his chin. “I didn’t know.”

Buffy turned away from him. She’d kill him later, at her leisure. Maybe while eating cookies in front of him.

Knocking the tech out of the way she punched the screens out of the monitors. The thick cables running from the wall snapped like twigs in her hands. She didn’t want anyone to see her reunion with Spike. It would be private. Just her and him. It didn’t matter that he was split. Buffy had zero doubt that both the demon and man loved her.

She grabbed the tech by the collar of his shirt and shook him. “Open the door.”

“I can’t,” the scrawny guy blubbered.

“I’ll get it.” Angel sighed, flipping open the plastic cover to a keypad that was next to the door. There was a pause while he entered a long string of numbers. “You sure about this, Buffy?” There was a hiss as the door swung slowly outwards.

“Chocolate chip.” She breezed past Angel. “Close it behind me. And Willow, make sure he behaves.”

The heavy security door thumped shut as she took a deep breath of the recycled air.  Buffy smiled. It was time to fix the sad.


	2. Reconnecting

I'll stay with you darling now

                -Cream, “Sunshine of Your Love”

****

Buffy walked slowly down the steps into the garishly lit white room. He was there, really there. Her eyes didn’t know where to settle. She was trembling. If this was a dream she was so going to rip the sandman to shreds. The fingers of one hand savagely pinched her leg and she grunted at the pain. Good. It had all better be real.

The vampire-demon half, whom she decided to simply call Demon because _Spike_ was the two halves together, was dressed only in a pair of loose pants. In permanent vamp face he squatted next to the pane of electrified glass that separated the cells. She couldn’t help but admire the pale skin that covered the tight muscles of his chest and arms. His yellow eyes were fixed on the floor. Demon’s hair was a familiar bleached blond color, but it was sticking up in all directions. She longed to take a comb to it and tame the unruly mess for him.

The man in the other cell was sitting on the cold cement floor, his legs drawn up. He had his arms wrapped around them and his head resting on his bent knees. His hair was all sandy brown curls that spilled over his forehead in the most endearing way. She’d call him William, to keep them straight in her head. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep. Buffy took a deep breath. Hopefully she was something worth waking up for. Actually, both man and vamp better be pleased to see her, because she had no intention of letting either out of her sight ever again.

Making her footsteps louder so they’d know she was there, Buffy walked determinedly towards the controls for the cells. Demon snapped his head up. His eyes zeroed in on her and his nostrils flared as he drank in her scent. He roared and slapped the glass that was between him and William, startling the man awake. Demon bounded across the confines of his cell and body checked the glass, making it rattle and crackle with electricity.

“Hang on,” she told him, frowning at the controls. “I just have to figure this out.”

“Miss Summers! I dear say! Miss Summers, is it really you?” William fumbled a pair of glasses out of the pocket of his jacket and perched them on his nose. Her insides melted. Scrambling to his feet, William quickly walked to the front of his cell as well, staring at her like she was a ghost. From under her lashes she saw him shoot Demon a glance, and the vamp nodded. Hmm, not as separate as they might seem.

“Yeah, it’s really me. Is it really you?” Why was the mechanism for opening the doors such a pain? She wanted her guys now.   

“Well, yes, just with some slight difficulty, as you can see. Um, are you unlocking the cages?” William had his arms crossed and was nervously rocking back on his heels.

“Yeah,” she said distractedly.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” William looked over at Demon, who’d taken to pacing fretfully along the front wall of his cage, eyes fixed on Buffy.

“Yes, I am.”  With a decisive flick of her wrist she toggled the locks to ‘off’. The doors slid open as Buffy hastily moved around the side of the control panel. In the next second she was looking at the ceiling as Demon bowled her over. He rubbed his face against hers, a happy purr rumbling through his chest. She wrapped her arms around him. “I missed you so much.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks. He sniffed at them before quickly trying to lap her face clean. “Ack, that tickles, you lug!” With a smile she gently pushed him back to she could sit up. Demon nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, his whole body relaxing against hers, and the purring picked up in volume. She wrapped one arm tightly around him.

Buffy looked around for William. He’d stepped out of the open cell door but was standing there, hands twisted into the fabric of his trousers and eyes fixed on his shoes. As she watched he snuck a furtive glance at Demon and her, jealousy plainly written on his face. She rolled her eyes. Men.

“William!” she called. He looked up quickly. “I don’t know what the etiquette for this situation is, so sorry if I messed it up or something.” She held out her free hand to him but he just stared at it. “That’s your cue to get your ass over here, Mister.” He didn’t need to be told twice. William hurried to her, dropping to his knees at her side and wrapping an arm around her as he buried his face into her shoulder. He shook as he wept in relief. Buffy petted the mop of his hair and cooed wordless comfort until he’d cried himself out.

When at last William’s tears stopped she cupped his chin and tilted his face up to hers. “I missed you.”

“I don’t… I…”

“Don’t you dare say you don’t deserve me, or something idiotic like that. Demon-“ She threaded a hand into the vamp’s hair. “Can you stop that for just a moment? Please?” While she’d been drying William’s tears Demon had essentially wrapped himself around her back and was rubbing his hard-on against her ass.

“I’m afraid he really doesn’t listen very well, Miss Summers.” William’s voice was apologetic but his eyes were shooting daggers at his demon half.

Buffy sighed. “Don’t I know it.” She twisted a little so she could see Demon’s yellow eyes. “Look, give me a second, alright? Or I won’t blow you later.” He immediate stopped moving. “That’s better.” She turned back to William, who didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. She cupped his cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“I should have done something, anything, to let you know how much I loved you. All of you.” Her fingers dug into Demon’s scalp a little and he snuggled tighter against her.

“I knew.” William’s voice was soft and he tentatively covered her hand with his own. It was shockingly warm. Human.

Her face scrunched up as fresh tears prickled. “Then why?”

“Couldn’t do it if I didn’t save you.” His eyes were so blue, earnest, and full of love that her heart stuttered and her eyelids dropped closed. Her thumb caressed his cheek. Demon’s body was a solid and comforting presence against her. She bit her bottom lip and sucked at it thoughtfully.

Buffy opened her eyes and William’s gaze snapped back to hers. He’d been staring at her mouth. She smiled. Demon wanting her had never been a question, but she’d been worried that after the initial rush the man might not be interested in her that way, not anymore. She’d hurt him so many times.

Leaning forward she brushed her lips against William’s in the faintest of kisses. It was a question. With a sigh he answered by swaying towards her and molding his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and gentle. Her fingers slipped down to fan out against his chest. It was so different than anything she and Spike had ever shared. Besides the fact that his mouth was warm and he needed to breathe, there was so much pure emotion in it. He loved her and his lips were worshiping hers to tell her so.

William put a long-fingered hand on either side of her face as his mouth left hers. “Why did you come for me?”

She frowned. Hadn’t he just said he knew she loved him? “Why wouldn’t I?”

He looked away from her. “I’d just been stuck here for so long, wanting to see you…” he was mumbling to the floor.

“Holy crap!” she sputtered. “It hasn’t even been an hour since I’ve known you weren’t a pile of dust at the bottom of the Sunnydale crater! The second I heard I had Willow bring me. I was crying my eyes out ninety minutes ago because I missed you so much.”

William looked shocked. He ran both hands through his hair. “No one told you?”

“No!”

Demon shifted, tightening his grip on her.

“The…the…” William dropped his head into his hands. His voice was muffled. “I thought you didn’t want to see me, Miss Summers.”

“Call me Buffy.” She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and tugged at his hand until she could see his tear-streaked face. “If you thought that, then why ask for me now?”

His eyes were downcast. “This was the first piece of leverage I’ve had. Angel thinks I know something about how and why this happened to me, something to do with some prophecy. I played along but said I’d only tell you what I’d learned. He stuck me in here and I had to pray that he was contacting you. I wanted to see you so badly that fabricating falsehoods to do so seemed but a minor evil. Even if you’d moved on and were with someone else, I still wanted the chance to say goodbye.”

“No goodbyes. Not now, not ever, if I can help it. If there’s an opposite of ‘moving on’ that was what I was doing. There hasn’t been anyone else. How could there be when my heart died with you? And now? It’s us against the world.” Buffy’s mind was still reeling. She had him. She was touching him. Spike was never going to be rid of her now.

William blushed and looked at her shyly from under his lashes. “’Sorry it’s under such odd circumstances.”

“I was going to declare my undying love even if you’d turned into a girl. Truthfully, I’m not overly concerned about these circumstances or any other.”

William’s flush had deepened at the mention of him turning into a girl. It was adorable. Buffy was spilling over with happiness. It was going to be a little different, getting to know the two extreme ends of Spike’s nature, but she wasn’t that worried about it. Not when the impossible had happened and she had him back.

Demon had started tangling his claws into her hair. He was tugging at it and she turned her head in time to see him catch one of the long strands in his teeth and suck at it.  A bemused smile curved the corner of her lips up. “What exactly are you doing?”

“He, um, likes your hair,” William said from behind her.

“I get that.”

“I like it too. It’s like spun sunlight caught by a capricious fairy and placed as a glowing golden crown upon-“

Demon snorted and William looked slightly put out.

“I’m glad you think it’s pretty.” Buffy grinned.

William sighed. “I do and as I said I like it, but he, umm… really likes it.”

Demon smirked around the hair in his mouth and cupped himself through his pants in case she hadn’t got it.

Buffy groaned. She wasn’t going to be able to take him anywhere.

A memory of Spike telling her he liked her long hair flashed through her mind and was immediately followed by thunderous guilt. She curled up into a ball and her chest heaved as tears threatened yet again. How could she have any left?

Two sets of arms wrapped securely around her.

“What’s wrong Miss…I mean Buffy?”

She shook her head.

William leaned across her and hissed at his other half. “You just had to be a pervert, didn’t you? Now you’ve gone and upset her. If she leaves, I’ll never forgive you.” A little whimper escaped Demon’s throat and his claws tightened on her.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She attempted to wipe her face clean. “It’s only…I remembered, after Willow brought me back, you telling me you liked my long hair and then I went and got it all cut off. Because I couldn’t…” Time to stop telling herself pretty lies. “Because I couldn’t deal. I was scared of how much I felt for you.” A sob wracked her body. “I was a stupid, idiotic, dumb girl. I love you so much and I loved you even then, but I couldn’t allow myself to have those feelings.”

“Hush, Buffy.” William was running a hand over her back. “Hush. We both did things we’re not proud of. But here we are, second chance, or third.” He paused. “Maybe fourth? Anyway let’s not dwell on past uglies.”  He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Buffy.”

There was a tug on her hand. Once he had her attention, Demon placed her hand over his unbeating heart and covered it with his own. The message was loud and clear: ‘I love you.’

She smiled through her tears and they both cuddled against her again, Demon rumbling contently while William hummed something slightly off key as he used the fingers of one hand to stroke the inside of her wrist.

What was she going to do with the two of them? Her eyes ran down the well-muscled length of Demon’s naked torso. Belatedly she realized that, while clothed, William’s body didn’t really feel that much different from what she was looking at. She could have both of them. Naked.

Buffy’s tears dried up as lust lit a fire deep in her belly. And William had called Demon perverted. Abruptly Demon pushed her flat, startling William. The vamp rolled so he was kneeling between her legs. His nose twitched and his eyes closed as a blissful smile overcame his face. He dropped forward and braced his hands on either side of her hips. With a groan, he proceeded to shove his face right into her jean-covered pussy.

Buffy had pushed herself up on her elbows and was giggling. She clamped her thighs over his ears as his fangs bit and worried at the seam of her pants.

“Dear me,” William said from beside her. “I feel a need to apologize for my counterpart’s actions.”

“No need.” Buffy lolled her head to the side so she could see him. “It’s not entirely his fault.”

“I…I am aware.” His ears turned pink.

“I’d like to not do this on the dirty floor of the place you were being held prisoner, if that’s okay.” She pulled at Demon’s hair to get him to stop. He did, but pouted at her and did his best to look utterly dejected.

William stood and held his hand out to Buffy, which she gratefully accepted. Brushing off her pants she hoped the fact that Demon had slobbered all over her crotch wouldn’t be apparent to anyone else.

“Ready?” she asked William. He was eyeing the door and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Is Angel out there?” His voice was low and his face pale.

Demon growled deep in his chest and to Buffy’s surprise he wrapped an arm around William like he was shielding him. It was odd…but not. Actually, it made sense. The demon had been protecting the man from Angel for more than a century. Buffy squeezed her thighs together. The fluttery feeling in her stomach at the picture the two made had absolutely nothing to do with protection.

“Yeah, Angel’s probably out there. But if he says one word I’ll find something else of his to break, something more substantial than his nose or fingers.” Buffy blew out a breath in a loud huff.

Both vamp and man beamed at her.

“Now.” She grinned. “Let’s go find somewhere more comfortable and do a little reconnecting.”


	3. Togetherness

Don't you want somebody to love

                -Jefferson Airplane, “Somebody to Love”

****

They hadn’t been locked in, which was good. Buffy kicked the huge door. It flew open, startling everyone on the other side. Angel, face set, jumped to his feet from where he’d been sitting on the now-defunct monitoring tech’s desk. Willow did a literal double take as Buffy strode in followed by William and Demon. 

Buffy glanced at her guys. William was shrinking back from Angel. The white dress shirt William had on was so large it seemed to be swallowing him and his khaki pants appeared to be several sizes too large as well. The whole ensemble made him look vulnerable. Demon was glaring at his Grandsire, his black sweatpants barely clinging to his hips and not leaving much to the imagination. She was going to have to take them shopping.

“Angel,” she snapped, pulling his attention away from her boys. “Do you have a room we can use?”

Angel snorted. “Look. I’m not sure it’s a good idea-“

Her hand shot out and closed around his throat. “I didn’t ask for your opinion.” She pushed him hard against the desk, making it rattle. “And you’ve lost any regard I did have for you. Room. Key. Now.”

Angel fumbled in his pockets and pulled out something that looked like a credit card. “Opens most locks in the building. There’s a couple of suites on the fifth floor. Take 561.” His hand shook with what she hoped was fear as he held out the card.

Buffy plucked it from his fingers. “Thanks.” She turned to look at her guys. William was wide-eyed with wonder, but Demon was flat out leering. The front of his barely-there pants was tented out, showing just how much he’d enjoyed watching her manhandle Angel. Her pussy pulsed in answer and she jerked her head towards to elevators, one of which was standing open. It’d better be a quick ride up, or she wasn’t going to be able to wait to unwrap her presents.

****

The suite was huge, but she barely had time to glance around before Demon grabbed her. He swooped her up and tossed her onto the large bed. She squealed and then laughed as she bounced once upon landing.  His pants were already gone and Buffy was having a hard time looking at anything but his jutting erection. A couple of hours ago she’d been sobbing because she’d lost everything. She would have punched somebody’s lights out if they’d told her: ‘it’s going to be okay.’ But it was okay. It was very, very okay.

Eagerly, she kicked off her boots and undid her jeans. She pushed them down her legs. When they got tangled around her ankles, Demon wasted no time in grabbing the fabric and yanking them off her. He barely even looked at her plain white cotton panties before shredding them and tossing the scraps over his shoulder. A blush stained her cheeks. She hadn’t been planning on being ravaged. At least she’d been wearing a clean pair. Demon pulled her to the edge of the bed and knelt between her legs. He settled a hand on each of her thighs and pushed them wide apart. Her blush deepened. There hadn’t been a lot of trimming happening down there lately. And, crap, when was the last time she’d shaved her legs?

Demon seemed unconcerned. He was tilting his head this way and that, just looking her sex like he was trying to memorize it. Spike had probably believed he’d never be allowed such intimacy again, and was maybe still worried about her suddenly changing her mind. She could understand that, but was planning on showing him over and over again that she knew exactly what she wanted.

 It was both embarrassing and arousing to be stared at so intently.  Honey was dripping from her and she was starting to feel like she was going to combust. Still, those yellow eyes just stared and his nose twitched as he breathed her in

“Please,” she whimpered, unable to bear it any longer. With a wicked grin, Demon leaned forward and swiped his tongue up her dripping folds. Buffy nearly levitated off the bed. The half- choked mewling noise she made seemed to please Demon greatly. He sucked gently at her clit and he maneuvered her onto the bed. She ended up with her head on the pillow and her legs spread wide with Demon crouched there, happily humming while his tongue dipped and darted over her folds. The tip explored each tiny crease and stabbed up inside her. He was making her buck and moan, but she needed more. He could feast on her for hours later if he desired, but right now she needed to be filled.

Threading her fingers into his hair she tugged at him. He licked her one more time with a broad swipe of his tongue before rising up to claim her mouth in a kiss. His fangs were sharp but no hindrance as she lapped her juices off his lips.  She still had her shirt on, but Demon’s fingers were able to zero in and tweak a pebbled nipple through the fabric. She moaned and arched into his hand. The head of his cock was bumping against her drenched opening and it would only take a slight twist of her hips and the empty ache inside her would be a thing of the past.

Demon’s lips were on her neck and she felt him shift his weight as he prepared to thrust inside her. Only something was missing.

“Wait,” she said softy and Demon instantly froze. He lifted himself off her so that while he was still hovering above her, they weren’t touching at all. There was fear in his eyes. Okay, so they had some issues to work through. No big surprise. And right now was so not the time. Happies first, crummy emotional crap later. Buffy touched his face to reassure him. “Where’s William?” Demon’s brow wrinkled and they both turned their heads towards the door to the room. Sure enough, William was still there. His arms were wrapped around himself and there was a naked look of longing on his face.

As soon as he realized he was being watched he ducked his head. “S-sorry,” he stammered.

“What are you doing?” she asked, puzzled. Demon lay down next to her, on the side away from the door. An expanse of white-sheeted mattress was left bare on her other side. It was more than enough room for another person.

William’s eyes remained fixed on the carpet. “I..I..You always liked the demon better, in bed.”

The implications hit her harder than a fist. She’d been so terrible to Spike, pushing the man away so she could justify how she treated him.  But that was not now, damn it. “William, get over here.”

Hope bloomed in his eyes, but he still hesitated. It took Demon reaching over her and patting the empty strip of mattress for William to finally walk over to stand next to the bed. “B-Buffy, I, well, I’m only human, and might not be able to please you…”

Rolling her eyes Buffy moved so she was kneeling on the mattress, facing him. “Would you kindly shut the hell up? I want you. I want all of you. Get that through your thick skull. Now, you are wearing way too many clothes.” She scrambled to pull his loose fitting shirt off and after a few stunned moments William helped her. The shirt was followed by his pants and he took his glasses off, depositing them on the nightstand.

William was blushing as she openly perused his body. From behind her Demon wrapped his arms around her waist and ground his cock between the cheeks of her ass. With a smile she reached down and tightly grasped William’s erection. He sucked in a breath and it jumped in her grasp. She stroked him languidly. His eyes closed and his hips rocked slightly as she worked her palm over his length. Demon removed one of his hands from her and she turned her head to watch him as he quickly bit off the tips of his claws. Her pussy pulsed in anticipation.

Demon’s fingers circled her clit and rubbed at the tight bundle of nerves, making her moan.  Her heart was hammering and she could feel an answering pulse in her palm. “Oh god, William,” she whispered. “I can feel your heartbeat.”

“Oh…good…Miss Summers…” His eyes landed on her chest. “I think you’re the one who’s overdressed now.”

“Care to help?”

She didn’t stop stroking him as he clumsily climbed onto the bed. Demon kept his hand on her clit, but the other one fell away as William grasped the hem of her shirt. With one smooth movement he yanked it over her head and tossed it away.

Both her guys stopped moving. “Huh?” she said, looking dazedly at William’s stricken face. Demon made a low, whimpering sound of distress. “What’s wrong?” She looked down at her tits, confused.

“Miss…Buffy, I know Scottish food is abhorrent, but do they have nothing for you to eat at all?”

Demon whimpered again and moved his hand from between her legs to run over her protruding ribs.

“I’m sorry.” She felt acutely embarrassed. She’d always been on the slim side and hadn’t really been paying much attention to her body since Sunnydale had been lost. Food was no longer a pleasure and having to eat with all the other girls, who were always cheerful and boisterous, was often too much for her. Buffy looked down again, noticing this time that her stomach was almost a hollow and her hip bones jutted out much further than she remembered. “I just haven’t wanted to eat much, for a while.”

“Why?” William moved a hand down her side, his thumb strumming slowly over her ribs.

“I was grieving,” she said softly.

William rocked back, horror on his face. “Oh god! I did this to you?”

Buffy shook her head. “You were part of it, but I lost a lot that day.” Spike blaming himself, for anything, was the last thing she wanted.  Her hands came up as she ineffectively tried to cover herself. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I look…” She wanted to hide. Where had her shirt gone? She started to slip from between them, wanting to cover herself.

With a growl Demon wrapped his arms back around her.

“What you look is beautiful.” William moved closer to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Amazing.” He kissed her cheek. “Perfect.” He bent to suck a nipple into his warm mouth. She groaned. Demon’s clever fingers found the other breast and plucked the nipple into a hard point. Hadn’t she been upset about something? Just a moment ago? It was a little difficult to remember when she was trapped between a hard, cool body and a hard, warm one with the evidence of their arousal pushing into both her backside and stomach.

Buffy had never really thought about having a threesome, except in jest. But this wasn’t really a threesome, it was just her and Spike and they’d always been good together.

William lay down and she followed, straddling his hips. Her mouth met his and she gasped as their tongues tangled. God, he tasted delicious. He had a hand threaded into her hair and the other was on her back, holding her close. Demon’s cool fingers ghosted down her spine, making her shiver. The hand moved lower and first one finger, then two, slipped into her wet channel. She eagerly undulated against the intrusion.

When her thighs started to quiver the fingers disappeared and she whined into William’s mouth, only to feel him still and then tremble. “Oh,” he breathed, looking bewildered. She pulled back a little, frowning down at him as his eyes glazed over.

Demon’s fingers settled on her hip and urged her to lift up slightly. She complied and moaned as the head of William’s cock was positioned at her opening.

Her brain whited out a bit when she figured out that both of William’s hands were still on her, which meant Demon had his fingers around William’s shaft. Was pumping it.

Slowly Buffy pushed herself upright, then paused. This was a big deal. She was never going to let him go again. William was looking up at her. Love, adoration, awe.

“Spike,” she gasped. “I love you.” She impaled herself on William’s cock with one swift motion. Her muscles protested for a second, unused to being stretched. She took a deep breath. The pain had been unexpected, but it faded quickly. Tentatively, she started moving.

Oh, that felt good. Better than good. Sublime.

William’s hands settled on her hips and helped her find a steady rhythm. He was panting and sweating. She marveled as a drop ran down his chest. That was new. She would have licked it off, except Demon was at her back again. His hands covered her breasts and started rolling and twisting the nipples. Her head fell back against his cool shoulder and her Slayer senses went nuts as the vampire nibbled at her throat.

Her legs had started trembling again. She was moaning and mewing her pleasure and she could hear William’s muttered chant of ‘ohgodohgodohgod’. One of Demon’s hands worked down her body to rub her clit. She was so close.

Buffy tilted her head to look at the man under her. Her hands were wrapped around his forearms as his fingers bruised her hips. Their eyes locked and she came. All her breath left her at once and she didn’t have a voice as she shuddered through the waves of ecstasy. The muscles of William’s stomach were tight and he was bucking up into her.

With one last grunt he slammed his cock deep inside her and came. Her name was a whispered prayer on his lips. Buffy was slumped in Demon’s arms, her inner muscles still quivering. With a kiss to the back of her neck Demon pushed her forward. “Hey,” she whispered, finding herself nose to nose with William.

“Hey,” he said. They both sighed at the loss as his softening cock slipped out of her. His semen was warm as it dripped out of her. That was different. Buffy wondered if he’d taste any different than she remembered.

Rough, cold hands seized her hips and she gasped as one of Demon’s knees knocked hers further apart.

“Better brace yourself,” William muttered. She was chest to chest with him, so for lack of a better idea she planted her hands on either side of his ears. Demon rubbed the head of his cock a few times up and down her over sensitized and slick sex before ramming himself to the hilt inside her. Buffy yelped in surprise as she came again. Demon made a happy noise and patted her behind.

Chuckling, William wove both his hands into her tousled hair and brought her mouth to his.  He kissed her deeply while Demon thrust inside her at a furious pace. The bed was squeaking in protest and the headboard was rapping the wall. Hopefully Wolfram & Hart had good soundproofing. Not that she had any intention of stopping even if the entire building could hear them.

Buffy came twice more before Demon’s movements became erratic and he threw his head back to howl his release. The cool rush of his come inside her was comforting in its familiarity. He collapsed onto his stomach beside her and William with a peaceful look on his face. Buffy lay on her side facing Demon and William spooned himself tightly against her back. Demon rolled to his side and scooted closer so he could wrap an arm over her and William. She rested a hand on Demon’s chest to feel the rumble of his loud and contented purr.

Sleep that had eluded her for months quickly overcame her as she relaxed, cradled in the arms of her lost love. At last she was home.

****

It was dark in the room when Buffy woke up. She was lying flat on her back and immediately tossed her hands out, looking for her guys and begging the PTB that she hadn’t been dreaming. William grunted as she smacked his side. She turned towards him. He was laying on his stomach with his arms crossed under the pillow and his sandy-brown curls a tangled riot on top of his head.

A snuffing sound caught her attention. Demon was moving around the kitchen area of the suite, opening cabinets and drawers. He kept it up for a moment before giving a little crow of success and hurrying back to the bed. Buffy was distracted by his nakedness. She’d missed how comfortable Spike had been in his own skin. Finally, she glanced down as she realized Demon was pushing something into her hand. A chocolate bar. A really fancy one. Only the best for Wolfram & Hart, she supposed. Demon’s eyes were pleading.

“He wants you to eat it,” William mumbled sleepily from beside her.

“Oh.” It wasn’t a huge amount. Dark chocolate raspberry. “Is there any water?” The bed shook as Demon bounded away. She sat upright and peeled back the wrapper. There was a rattling noise as Demon rummaged in a mini-fridge hidden under a counter. He returned to sit cross-legged next to her, proudly holding out a bottle of water. “Mm, thanks,” she mumbled around a mouthful of chocolate. Demon beamed. She polished off the chocolate bar and downed half the water before she noticed William, who’d rolled on his back, eyeing the bottle. “You finish it,” she said, handing it to him.

“Thank you, Miss…Buffy.” He pushed himself up onto an elbow and gulped the water. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he drank and realized there was the faint beginning of a beard there. William was going to have to shave.  Though it could wait until whenever they bothered getting up.

She laid down on her front. A warm hand and then a cool one settled on her back and she smiled. A girl could really get used to all this togetherness.


	4. Planning

Who cares what games we choose?

                -Strawberry Alarm Clock, “Incense and Peppermints”

****

The tub had jets. How freaking cool was that? Buffy had woken up wedged between Demon and William, somewhat sore and most definitely sticky. She’d slithered out from between them and promptly occupied the bathroom. William had knocked sometime later saying he really needed to pee—not in so many words, he’d mumbled something about requiring the accommodations—but she didn’t want to get out of the water so she’d told him to use the kitchen sink. His indignation at the impropriety of the suggestion had radiated through the door.

Now she was shaving her legs while enjoying the warm water and the jets that were massaging her back. Wolfram and Hart sure knew what luxury meant. Except when it came to disposable razors. The pack she’d found in the drawer looked like it was from the dollar store. She stroked the razor up her shin and wasn’t surprised to see a line of red, several inches long, appear. Stupid cheap piece of crud.  “Damn,” she muttered.

There was a knocking at the door and William said something she couldn’t make out over the sound of rushing water from the jets.

“What?” she called.

The door splintered and fell off its hinges as Demon came barreling into the room.

“I said,” William, hovering in the doorway, crossed his arms and glared at his counterpart, “that I didn’t think the door was going to hold.” He was dressed in his ill-fitting clothes again.

Demon, still naked, dropped to his knees beside the tub and seized her leg. He bent over and brought his mouth to the cut, sucking greedily. It felt way better than it had any right to and she moaned. There was an answering noise from the doorway and both she and Demon turned their faces to William, who had suddenly developed an interest in the pattern of the carpet.

“He won’t admit it,” Buffy whispered with a wink to Demon. Growling softly, Demon stood, his hardened cock bobbing. She couldn’t look away from it. Did the thing even have an off switch? She wrinkled her nose. Why the hell would she want it to have an off switch? It’s not like she hadn’t turned into a leaky faucet since her arrival yesterday.

William’s eyes were round as Demon grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him further into the luxurious bathroom. Buttons pinged onto the tiles as Demon ripped the loose top from William and tossed it away.

“Hey!” William protested. “That’s the only one I have!”

“We’ll get you a new one and charge it to Wolfram and Hart.” Buffy stood as Demon beckoned to her. William’s eyes immediately went to her breasts and his Adam’s apple bobbed. She stepped out of the tub, enjoying how his eyes stayed fixed on her tits.

While William was watching her, Demon slipped around behind him. With a gleeful smile, Demon yanked William’s pants down around his knees and fisted his human counterpart’s semi-erect cock. Buffy’s insides turned molten as William’s dick hardened and lengthened in Demon’s grip.

“I...he just keeps doing that,” William said, flustered.

“I’m very, very okay with it.” Buffy dropped to her knees in front of William. Her tongue flicked across her lips as she looked up into his blue eyes. Demon ran the tip of William’s cock across the seam of her mouth.

“I find it to be rather embarrassing,” William mumbled. He was blushing, though his head had dropped back against Demon’s shoulder and he was watching her through his lashes.

Buffy bit her lip. “I find it to be very, very hot.”

“Oh…I…if you say so, Miss.” William was panting slightly. “What, erm, what will you to do after, I, uh…finish.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I think I’m going to pull Demon down onto this stupidly plush bath mat and ride him into floor while you watch. Because you like that, don’t you, William? You like watching the Slayer getting fucked by the demon. You want to make love to me, but you want to see him make me scream.” William nodded, his curly hair flopping over his forehead.

Buffy’s fingers trailed up William’s legs to cup his sac. Gently, she rolled his balls in her palm as he moaned. She couldn’t help grinning wickedly when Demon caught her eye. He bit the claw off his forefinger and stuck it in his own mouth.

“William,” Buffy purred. “I love you, and Demon loves you. Between us we’ll always take care of you. We are your shelter and will never let anyone hurt you ever again. Now let go and let us make you feel good.”

“Good,” William echoed. She couldn’t see his eyes anymore with the way the bathroom lights were reflecting off his glasses, but she was guessing they were glazed over with lust. He moaned loudly as Buffy sucked his cock deep into her mouth. Her hand replaced Demon’s and she stroked up and down the length of his shaft that didn’t fit in her mouth.  Her other hand was on his hip and she felt him stiffen as Demon invaded his ass with a spit covered finger. “I, uh, I don’t really…”

Buffy took her mouth of William’s cock. “Don’t even try and pretend that was all Demon enjoying that sort of stuff.” William’s face flamed bright red. Rolling her eyes she sucked him back into her mouth, cheeks hollowing. Seriously, who did he think he was kidding? Demon probably could have stuck his dick up…her mind shorted out a bit. There was a slight growl. Demon had definitely caught the fact she’d just dissolved into a puddle of arousal. 

She worked William fast and hard, her mouth and hand unyielding. Between her and Demon they soon had him begging. His hand was on the top of her head but it wasn’t forceful.

“Buffy, please. I’m going to…you should…”

She resisted rolling her eyes. She should what? Jerk him off into a napkin? Like, seriously. He was adorable, but a complete dork.

Demon was resting his chin on William’s shoulder and watching her work. With a wink at Demon she willed herself to relax and took in as much of William’s shaft as she could. When it hit the back of her throat she swallowed a couple of times reflexively.

“Oh…well.” He came with a hoarse grunt, his cock spasming in her mouth. She couldn’t even taste his cum he was so far back in her throat. She just swallowed it down with a self-satisfied hum before letting him go.

Bonelessly, William slid down to sit cross-legged on the bathroom floor. Demon eagerly lay down on his back, head in William’s lap. He caught Buffy’s wrist and tugged her hand towards his raging hard-on. With a smile she straddled him and pumped him several times with her fist while William watched with a dreamy half-smile on his face. 

Using one hand to keep Demon’s cock pointed at the ceiling Buffy scooted forward and impaled herself on it, gasping as Demon thrust his hips up hard into her. She raised her arms up, crossing them at the wrists and resting them on her head. She started riding Demon for all he was worth, squeezing hard with her thighs and vaginal walls. He was giving back as good as he got with his claws digging into her hips and his pelvis churning against hers. With a moan she closed her eyes and let her head tilt back.

The first orgasm was hard and bright, the one that followed swift on its heels was warm and aching. She never stopped moving, just keened her pleasure. Demon shifted slightly under her and she brought her arms down to dig her nails into his chest. She opened her eyes and froze. William had leaned over and Demon had propped himself up and they were kissing. Open mouthed. And she could see tongue.

Demon’s claws urged her back to life but she could still barely breathe and thinking was even less of a possibility. She came again in rolling waves. “Spike,” she gasped as she leaned forward, nearly spent. Demon came undone beneath her. He was bucking wildly between her thighs and growling into William’s mouth. With a howl Demon peaked, his cock jerking as he spent his load in rough spurts deep inside her. William stilled his counterpart’s head with both hands and lovingly drew out one last, lingering kiss.

Muscles protesting slightly from overuse, Buffy pulled herself off Demon and laid down beside him on the stupidly large and luxurious bathmat. With a sigh she snuggled her head against his shoulder. William lay down on the other side, after putting his glasses on the counter next to the sink, and copied her actions. They grinned at each other over Demon’s chest, which was rumbling with a loud and contented purr.

****

Angel was staring at the top of his desk. Why did his world have to keep getting so screwed up? A year ago he would have said for sure he was fighting on the right side and that Buffy loved him and would be his girl forever, even if they couldn’t be together.

He didn’t know the pissed-off woman that’d stormed into his office and proceeded to trample all over him and his emotions to get to Spike. Angel had ended up feeling like he’d been in the way. So much roadkill under her wheels. It was just wrong. Spike might be a persistent little S.O.B., but it was one thing to get into a girl’s pants and another to capture her heart.

The wall around Buffy’s heart, made with a door only Angel knew how to get through, had surely not fallen to the fumbling aspirations of his pathetic grandchilde. Angel growled low in his throat and his human mask slipped.

It was bad enough when he thought of them together. Thought of them doing…things…together.

The first night Angel had spent with Buffy was seared into his memory. She’d been so innocent. Every wide eyed glance and girlish squeak she’d given was locked away inside his head. He wished his soul hadn’t fled. Everything would have been so different if he’d still been there when she’d woken up. However, if it meant never having had known her blushes and the soft gasp she’d made as he’d entered her…

He couldn’t quite wish undone what had happened.

Angel was also having a very hard time trying to picture the sweet girl he knew and Spike doing anything sexual together. The day he’d spent as human, the one she didn’t remember, the sex had been wonderful but straightforward. There was no way the Spike he knew would put up with vanilla for all that long.

Angel frowned. Maybe he was mistaken about Buffy and what she was doing with the boy and the demon. She had used her clout to get ahold of a Wolfram and Hart credit card and had ordered herself and both aspects of Spike a whole pile of new clothes and accessories, along with Chinese takeout. Maybe she just felt obligated to take care of him?

There was a way to prove his theory. After making sure his office door was locked he opened his laptop and called up the list of security cameras. They were state of the art, had color and sound, and were hidden everywhere. In under a minute he had the cursor hovering over the one for room 561.

The preverbal angel and devil were sitting on his shoulder. One said that this was how he’d know Buffy was still his girl. William would be sleeping on the couch with the demon curled up on the rug and Buffy would be alone and peaceful in the bed. The other side said he’d get to see something dirty. Since both soul and demon seemed to agree that he should take a peek, Angel double clicked on the icon for their room.

A window popped up.

Oh, holy hell.

Angel slapped his hands over his eyes. His demonic side purred and he couldn’t help but peek through his fingers.

Buffy, William, and the creature were on the bed, buck naked. The demon was lying on his back, Buffy cuddled up against his side, facing him. The boy was—Angel gulped—screwing her from behind while she was jacking the demon with her hand to the same tempo. It was hot.

It was disgusting.

Angel slammed the computer closed. Woozily, he got to his feet and wandered unsteadily over to his liquor cabinet to pour himself a shot of something that’d burn on the way down.

This couldn’t be happening. He downed another shot and started pacing. There had to be a way out of this. He couldn’t allow Spike to continue to defile Buffy because she had some misguided sense of gratitude about the bleached moron sacrificing himself and closing the hellmouth.

It’s not like the idiot even had the decency to stay dead after being martyred.

Angel continued to wear a hole in the rug for a good thirty minutes before an idea started to form. He’d bet good money Spike wouldn’t be so quick to sacrifice himself again. Angel could invent a situation to show Buffy that. She’d drop Spike like a hot potato once she figured out he was no longer a hero. Maybe there’d even be a way to make himself, Angel, appear to be willing to die for her and then have a near escape. She’d be back in his arms in no time and Spike—or William and the demon—would at last remember their real place in the world.

With a grin he slammed his office door open and walked purposefully towards the elevator.

****

Angel knocked once before barging into the room. The air reeked of sex, thick enough to make him choke. The three figures on the bed, sleeping under the sheet, sprang to life as light from the hallway spilled into the room.  Angel’s eyes met William’s and to his delight fear kindled in the boy’s gaze. With a sneer Angel took a step forward, only to be stopped by a clawed hand on his chest.

Spike’s vampiric half was blocking his way. The creature was naked and snarling. Its claws curled and poked sharply into Angel’s chest. He looked over the creature’s shoulder to where Buffy was attempting to stand up while the boy tried to stop her.

“Wait,” William pleaded.

“No, I’m going to beat him into pulp for barging in here.” She started to get up again.

“No, please.” The boy sounded desperate.

“Why not?” Buffy huffed.

William pulled the covers up around her neck. “I don’t want him to see you.”

To Angel’s surprise Buffy stilled. “Alright.” She leaned her head against William’s shoulder. “Demon,” she called. “Come back here.” With a last shove at Angel’s chest the creature turned and crawled onto the bed. On hands and knees it positioned itself over top of their legs, putting itself between Angel and the two others. The boy slumped down, but Buffy looped her arms around the creature and laid her head on its back. “Was there something you needed, Angel?” she asked coldly.

“I…I…” He couldn’t help staring at the sight of Buffy cuddling a creature that was nothing but raw demonic energy. It made him feel queasy. She shouldn’t be doing this. No matter what she believed she owed Spike, this was beyond the pale. The images from earlier, of Buffy with her head on the monster’s chest while her hand slid up and down its shaft, played through his head. Angel had to fight back his own demon. It wanted to rip, shred, and above all punish the runt for touching his girl.

Why the hell had Buffy lowered herself to this?

“Angel,” Buffy warned. She was trailing a hand up and down the creature’s spine. The boy had gotten his glasses on and was peeking at Angel over the dip of the demon’s lower back.

“There’s this, uh, prophecy, that, er, I found.” Angel took a deep breath to get control of himself. “There’s supposed to be some kind of…thing…thing…of…thing of doom coming to power soon and we’re going to need to stop it.”

“What kind of doom-thingy?” Buffy asked, frowning.

“What book did you find the prophecy in?” William sat up a little further.

“It was a scroll, not a book,” Angel snapped. The boy disappeared again, much to his satisfaction.

 Buffy scowled at Angel. “Look, is it going to show up tonight? Do I need to grab my Scythe and go get my Slay on right now?”

“Uh, no,” Angel hedged.

“Then tomorrow’s good enough. We’ll meet in your office at nine. Sound okay?”

“Sure.” That’d give him enough time to fine-tune a plan. “See you soon then.” He looked deep into her eyes. “Goodnight, Buffy.” He tried to make his voice soft and warm.

With a huff she rolled her eyes. “Night, Angel.”

The demon’s growl followed him out into the corridor.

There had to be a way to make her understand that she didn’t owe Spike this. It’s not like Spike was the only one to ever save the world. Angel scrubbed a hand across his eyes as if he could wipe away what he’d seen. He headed back to his office. This was going to take an awful lot of planning.

 


	5. Where She Belonged

He say one and one and one is three

                -The Beatles, “Come Together”

****

“Get your pale ass back here and get dressed!” Buffy was beyond exasperated. Getting a black t-shirt on Demon hadn’t been a problem, but pants were an entirely different story. She was reminded, and not in a good way, of Dawn as a toddler. Throwing her hands up she turned to William, who was eyeing a tie. He already had on a blue dress shirt and…red plaid…boxers? “You’re wearing underwear?” she asked him in confusion.

“Well, yes.”

Demon sneered in his direction. William pointed a finger back at his counterpart. “He’s not dressing me so I can do what I want.” William sniffed. “Not all of us think that zipper feels as good as he does.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and counted to ten. Slowly. She hadn’t really asked Angel if it was fine by him if she brought William and Demon with her to the meeting, but there was no way in hell she was going anywhere without them. She counted to ten again for good measure and glanced at William. “Yes, William, you can dress how you like. Mostly. I get veto power.” She put her hands on her hips and turned to glare at Demon, who’d climbed onto the counter beside the sink. He was crouched there, smirking, one long-fingered hand dangling down to frame his semi-erect cock.

Buffy sighed.

William looked up from where he was straightening the creases of his khakis. “Demon, get off of there and put your trousers on, or she’ll leave you here when we go down to talk to Angel.”

Demon’s eyes darted to Buffy, who was doing her best to look stern and not stare at his crotch. She nodded. “Jeans or you don’t come with.” Demon whined softly, but jumped down and grabbed the pants Buffy held out to him. He retreated to a corner to wrestle them into submission.

“What do you think?” William asked, offering himself up for inspection. She tapped her lips with one finger while she considered his choice of apparel.

“Well, for starters, no tie.” He hadn’t done it up yet and she tugged at one end to remove it. The sensual slide of the satin as it slipped from around his neck left them both panting. Slowly, she reached up and undid the top two buttons on the shirt and smoothed down his collar. Buffy could see a spot, right above his Adam’s apple, where he’d nicked himself shaving. She leaned in, wanting to kiss it better.

“Uh-anything…anything else,” William squeaked.

She looked up at him dazedly through her lashes. Oh, right. She put a hand to her forehead and stepped back. “Untuck your shirt and roll your sleeves up. Let’s go a little more casual.” She helped him and stepped back to admire her handwork.

There was a thunk as Demon dropped his boots next to Buffy. He sat on the bed and stretched a foot out imploringly towards her. She folded her legs under her with a groan and pulled Demon’s foot into her lap. He was remarkably still while she did his laces up for him.

Once his boots were on, he was ready to go. She’d gotten his bleached locks gelled into submission much earlier in the morning.

Her own hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing black pants, low-heeled boots, and a simple pink blouse.

She gave William one last glance. He looked good with his barely tamed curls, glasses, and polished wing-tips. With a small sigh she put her hand on the doorknob. It was weird to think William had always been there, spending most of his time hiding behind Demon. Buffy had to shove down her guilt at how many times she’d belittled the man and pushed him away during their time in Sunnydale. Never again, she promised herself. Never.

“Are we going to leave or are you planning on continuing to observe the door?”

Buffy turned her eyes, full of barely contained tears, towards William. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

William’s face fell and he pulled her into a hug. “I have no idea what you could be sorry for, my heart, but whatever it is I’m sure it’ll be okay. As long as we’re together, it’ll be okay.” His arms tightened. “I love you,” he murmured against her forehead. Demon, humming low in the back of his throat, wrapped his arms as far as they would go around both Buffy and William.

Buffy let herself relax inside the circle of her lovers’ arms. “I love you too, Spike, I love you too.”

****

The door to Angel’s office was slightly ajar. Buffy could hear the ebb and flow of the voices inside. For a second she wanted to run back to the safety of her room and hide from everything and everyone. Only she was the Slayer. With grim determination she lifted her chin high. Her boys were flanking her. Demon looking sleek and deadly on her left and a handsome, if nervous, William to her right.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, and pushed the door open wide. The other conversations came to a halt as all eyes landed on her.  Buffy strode in, trying to appear nonchalant. There was a happy squeal from her right and she turned her head just in time to see Willow launch herself at William.

“Spike!” Willow cried. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Red.” William hugged her tight for a moment before Demon caught her wrist and tugged the witch towards himself. He held up her hand and inspected it meticulously. Willow tossed a questioning glance towards William.  “He’s making sure you got out in one piece,” William said with a small smile.

“Oh!” She held up both her hands to the vampire, then kicked off her shoes and showed him her toes. Demon lifted her red hair to look at Willow’s ears. “All my teeth are good too.” She opened her mouth and Demon cast a critical eye over them. With a decisive snort he stood upright and patted Willow on the head. She grabbed him in a bear hug and after a startled moment he returned it. “Thank you for saving us,” she said into his shoulder. William reached out and tentatively placed a hand on her arm. After a second Willow let go of Demon and took a step back to glare at both man and vamp. “You’re making sure Buffy eats, right?”

William sighed. “Trying to. Demon’s been doing nearly everything but actually shoveling food down her gullet.”

“Good, because…” Willow didn’t get to finish as Angel interrupted.

“Is something wrong with Buffy?”

“Hey, I’m right…” Buffy started, but Willow broke in.

“Are you blind, Angel? Buffy’s been so upset these last few months she’s hardly been eating! She’s starting to look like a clothes hanger.”

“A clothes hanger that is standing right here!” Buffy bellowed. With a huff she crossed her arms and sat down hard on the one remaining empty couch in the office. William sat next to her, but Demon stubbornly remained standing.

“Look, let’s argue about all this later,” said a man Buffy didn’t recognize. He stared at Angel until the vampire waved a hand in agreement, then the stranger turned a dazzling smile on Buffy. “Hey, I’m Charles Gunn. I’ve been working with Angel for a while now. It’s nice to finally meet the famous Buffy Summers.”

“Hi!” She beamed at him. The man’s smile was infectious. He quickly introduced the other people in the room. Wesley could barely meet her eyes. She’d have to talk to him later and explain about bygones being bygones. Fred gushed quite a bit about Spike, enough so that Buffy’s smile turned into a glare and William squeezed her knee reassuringly. Did he have to be quite so charming?

There was a moment of awkward silence after the introductions were done. With a resigned sigh Buffy turned her head towards Angel. “So, want to fill us in on this Thing of Doom…thing?”

“Uh, yes.” Angel quirked his mouth to the side. “There was a scroll I found tucked in among some other reading I was doing-“

“Can we see it? The scroll?” Wes asked. William nodded in agreement.

“Actually, well, no you can’t. It sort of burned up after I read it. See?” He pointed to a section of rug next to his desk.  Fred walked over and bent down, running a hand over the charred spot.

Gunn crossed his arms. He was perched on the arm of the sofa opposite of the one Buffy was sitting on. “So what’d it say?”

“I’m not perfectly clear on the translation.” Angel was tapping his fingers on his desk. “It was Latin, I’m pretty sure. It was talking about a beast of fang and horn rising in an angelic city by the sea, in the time after the turning of the second millennium.” The vampire shifted in his desk chair. “I really just got the feeling that it was here, in L.A., and soon.” His eyes lifted to meet Buffy’s. “It upset me enough and the sensation that something horrible was imminent came on so strong that it made me rush to you last night.”

“Hmm.” She smiled tightly at him.

“So what should…” Wes trailed off and pointed behind Buffy and William, towards a set of built-in shelves. “Whatever is he up to?”

After sharing a resigned look with William, Buffy turned around to find Demon rooting through the shelves of Angel’s office and paying zero attention to anyone else. Demon’s nose twitched as he shoved books and random decorations out of the way.

“I think he’s looking for chocolate,” William said after a few second of watching Demon rummage.

“Why would he be doing that?” Fred asked from where she was crouched down on the rug.

Buffy groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “It’s for me. He gets really weird about feeding me and it’s lodged somewhere in his brain that as a girl I need chocolate.”

“Well, he’s kind of right.” Fred smiled at Demon, but it was in an indulgent way that didn’t make Buffy want to punch the slight woman’s lights out. “Here, Demon, I think I’ve got I candy bar you can have.” She searched through the bag slung over her shoulder and held out a Hershey’s Bar. Demon eagerly grabbed it, giving Fred a quick one-armed hug of thanks. He brought it to Buffy and placed the bar carefully in her hand before sinking down on the floor next to her and resting his head on her knee.

Knowing better than to argue she unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite. Demon started purring and she ran the fingers of her free hand through his hair.

“Returning to this creature that’s purported to be ascending at any time, what is our course of action?” William’s hands were gripping the edge of the couch cushion hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Every eye in the room focused on him and he gulped nervously.

Willow cleared her throat. “I don’t know about you guys, but it’s usually at this point that the Scoobies would be going for the whole research-in-old-books thing.”

“It’s what Angel Investigations would do as well,” Wes said, tapping the fingers on one hand against his thigh.

“What kind of resources does Wolfram and Hart have?” Willow addressed Wes, looking all business.

“Nearly anything you can imagine. Often it is more challenging to narrow down where one should look, rather than finding enough material.” Wes smiled slightly as Willow’s eyes grew round with the possibilities.

“Wesley,” William spoke up from beside Buffy. “Might I be of assistance? I am fluent in both ancient and ecclesiastical Latin, along with ancient Greek and several demon languages.” He bowed his head as a flush spread over his cheeks. Buffy pried his hand off the couch in order to hold it.

“Of course, William.” Wes nodded at him. “Any help would be much appreciated.”

“Thank…” William sucked in a breath and whipped his head around to look at Buffy. “That is…I mean…if it’s alright with you, Miss Summers, I would like to accompany Miss Willow and Mr. Wyndam-Pryce as they seek information on this Thing of Doom?”

Buffy gave his hand a squeeze. “Uh, yeah. Fine with me.”

William pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and stood before joining Willow and Wes to talk in low voices about things she really didn’t understand. What she did know was that it felt weird for William to be so far away from her.

Demon was still at her feet. With his eyes closed and his body still she couldn’t tell if he’d fallen asleep or was just resting. Angel was glaring at them while Gunn tried to draw more information about the scroll out of his boss.

Fred came to sit next to her. “You doing okay?” the Texan asked.

“Yeah.” Buffy smiled. “It’s the first time in a long time I can say that.”

“I’m so sorry no one called you sooner. It was wrong of us.”

Buffy traced the ridges of Demon’s face with one finger. “It’s okay now. Spike and I’ve promised each other not to dwell on the past. I think I want to extend that to more than just me and him. I’m happy now, and that’s what matters.”

Fred nodded and Buffy didn’t miss the way she glanced over at Wes.

Her ex-Watcher was gesturing broadly while William nodded. “Look, I can prove it,” Wes said, “I think Angel has the right book.” William and Wes walked to the shelves Demon had been pillaging earlier. Wes pulled an ancient-looking volume off the shelf and plopped it in William’s hands.

“Ctesias may not be the most useful in this situation,” William argued, eyeing the title page.

Wes sighed. “Read page 430. I believe it is completely relevant.”

Buffy and Fred looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “I like to hit things, usually with pointy bits of wood or swords involved,” Buffy said with a shrug and Fred laughed.

“Microscopes. It’s all about the microscopes.” She frowned. “Is everything okay, Wes?”

Wesley was leaning over Buffy. “There’s something in your hair.” He reached a hand out.

“I wouldn’t do that if…” William tried to grab Wes’ wrist but was too late. Demon exploded into action. He vaulted over the back of the couch and roughly pushed Wes away from Buffy. Fangs on full display, Demon growled at the man.  Angel and Gunn were on their feet and both looked ready to pounce.

Buffy reached a hand up and ran it through her hair. Her fingers encountered a slightly sticky wet patch on the right side of her head.  Cautiously she brought her hand down to sniff at it. “Oh…” Her face turned a bright red color. “I can’t…” She scrambled off the couch and turned to glare at Demon. “I can’t believe…you…I…” Buffy whirled to face Angel. She jabbed a finger in his direction. “And you, this is entirely your fault!”

“Me?” Angel yelped. He was leaning back, unconsciously trying to get away from the irate Slayer. “What did I do?”

Buffy’s eyes shot daggers at him. “You just had to come bumbling into our room last night, showing off that you basically own the place. You set Demon off and apparently he felt the need to mark his territory.”

Angel opened and closed his mouth a few times but obviously didn’t have a comeback. He did at least seem sheepish.

Breathing harshly, she returned to glaring at Demon, who was rocking back on his heels and looking smug. William appeared to be trying to disappear into the bookcase. His whole being radiated embarrassment.

“Uh,” Fred spoke up. “I think I need a vampire to human translation here.”

Wes and Gunn shrugged.

William took a few big gulps of air. “Demon, he, er…wanted to make sure Angel, and any other demon, would be clearly aware that Miss Buffy belongs to hi-“

Demon growled and aggressively jerked a pointed finger back and forth between him and William.

“That she belongs to us,” William amended and flushed deeply.

“What did he do?” Willow asked, her face screwed up. “I feel like I missed something important.”

“No, nothing important.” Buffy was still glaring at Demon. “Just my boyfriend being a vampire twit.” She sighed and looked at Wes, then Angel. “Can this research wait until later?” After a second both nodded.

“I think we have a little time,” Angel added. He sighed, and then scowled. “I thought you smelled a lot stronger than you should have.”

“Gee, thanks,” Buffy deadpanned. “I’ll see you all soon, okay?”

She started towards the door with a strutting Demon and incredibly mortified William trailing after her.

“Buffy, wait,” Willow called. She caught Buffy by the elbow right as she was about to walk out the door. “What’s going on?”

Buffy sighed. “It turns out I need a shower. Badly. And to have some quality time with my vampire to explain to him that you don’t come in your girlfriend’s hair while she’s asleep and then not tell her about it.” She narrowed her eyes at the vamp in question, who didn’t look sorry in the least.

“Eew.” Willow took a step back. “I…see you later!” She smiled cheerily.

“Sounds good,” Buffy smiled back. She was actually hugely relieved. The thought of being separated from either of her guys was almost more than she could stand. Even if she wanted to stake one of them to a sunny anthill at the moment.  

As soon as they were in the elevator Demon pinned her against the wall and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. She forgot to be mad at him as his lips found and tugged at the piercings of one ear.

They tumbled out of the elevator and into the hallway. As they made it back to their room Demon pushed Buffy into William’s arms. William had been looking sulky, but that disappeared as she kissed him deeply. “I didn’t want to be away from you yet, anyway,” she whispered to him. The look of adoration on his face made her insides turn to mush.

Demon crowded her from behind. “I’ll be mad at you later,” Buffy admonished. He shrugged.

William rolled his eyes. “He thinks it was worth the price.” With a sigh, William’s lips landed on hers again.

Secretly, Buffy was in complete agreement with Demon. For once, she knew right where she belonged.


	6. Yes, Please

And let me try with pleasured hands

                -The Zombies, “Time of the Season”

****

Buffy was unable to ignore the sticky spot on her head now that she was aware of it. With a groan, she extracted herself from between William and Demon and tugged the ponytail holder out of her hair. Demon leaned against the counter with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. She was going to have her work cut out for her explaining to him why she didn’t exactly appreciate his method of telling the world she was his. Especially since it’d worked rather well and had ended with the three of them back in their room.

First, however, she needed to get clean. Hmm. Shower. It shouldn’t take a whole lot of work to convince her boys she needed help washing her hair. All of it. Thoroughly. And she could wash theirs, or maybe they could wash each other’s…

Buffy put a hand on William’s arm, then frowned. His muscles were tight and he was glaring at Demon. “Hey, you okay?” she asked. William didn’t reply. He shrugged off her hand and marched stiffly over to Demon, whose smile went from smug to unsure in the face of his counterpart’s rage.

“How could you?” William poked a finger into Demon’s chest. “How could you do that? To Buffy?” The finger swung to point at her. “To the girl we love? Who forgave us for doing the unforgivable? I haven’t even forgiven you for that! For hurting her!” The words were cold, but William’s face was flushed. His hands were fisted at his sides. “And you did it again! You touched her without her consent!”

Demon was cringing back from William’s ire. The vampire’s shoulders were slumped and he was curling up on himself. He was looking at his feet and making a high pitched noise in the back of his throat. Buffy’s stomach was tying itself in knots and she felt frozen. She knew that Spike had felt beyond terrible about what had almost happened that horrible night, but they had never really sat down and talked about it. They should have. God, they really should have. There had just seemed like there’d be time for things like that after the First had been defeated. Then there hadn’t been any time for her and Spike at all, and now she was in no way prepared to watch him tear himself apart over an evil he’d already done the impossible to atone for.

William was continuing to berate his counterpart in the same frigid voice. “I don’t know why she’s here with us, but I won’t let you ruin it. I should dust you for what you did to her.” With his lip drawn up in a sneer, William raised his fist. Demon continued to keen his distress as he closed his eyes and braced for the blow.

She couldn’t take it. “Stop!” Buffy yelled, placing herself between Demon and William.

This wasn’t William, it wasn’t actions of the gentle man she’d come to know. The barbed words and twisted rage whispered to her of Angelus. Sometimes she forgot that Spike had spent years under his influence. It was frightening to see the reminder in front of her. William’s whole body radiated fury.

 “Stop,” she said again, grasping William’s wrist. She looked deep into his eyes, searching for a way past this. Her breathing nearly stopped. Oh, god. He was so scared. Not of her, but that she’d leave. That she’d reject him and shatter his heart. He wouldn’t survive. “William,” she whispered. “I’m not thrilled with Demon, but it’s okay. He didn’t hurt me and I’m not the girl I was before I lost you. I’m not going to run away or lash out at you because I don’t know how to handle a situation. I love you, Spike. You don’t have to be perfect to keep me. I’m a gift freely given.”

William sagged. His eyes closed as he struggled with himself. “I’m sorry, Miss Buffy. I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere, well, anywhere except the shower. While I do that how about you go sit on the bed and calm down?”

Head bowed he trudged to where she’d pointed and sat heavily on the edge. His eyes fixed on his clasped hands.

She crouched down next to Demon, who’d sunk to the floor and was sitting there curled up. “Hey.” Buffy put a hand on his back. Demon flinched away from her and tried to make himself even smaller. “You didn’t hurt me.” She ran a hand over his hair and he whimpered. “You didn’t hurt me,” she repeated. “I’m a little pissy you didn’t wake me up or say something, but I understand. I really do. I want people to know you’re mine, too. And, Demon-“ She put her palm against his cheek and tilted his head up until his yellow eyes met hers. “I’m proud to be your girl, yours and William’s.” The look of awe on Demon’s face was achingly familiar. It made her heart do funny things in her chest. She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll be out in just a few minutes, all right?”

Demon nodded, uncurling enough to lean back against the cabinet. Buffy ruffled William’s hair as she walked by, but he didn’t look up. She left the bathroom door slightly ajar, not wanting a barrier between her and her guys. The shower itself was a lot shorter and much more perfunctory than what she’d originally had in mind. Which made her cranky. At least until she looked in the mirror as she blow-dried her hair. She needed to get a grip. Two days ago she’d been a broken wreck crying over lost love and now she was grumpy because she wasn’t getting serviced in the shower.

Her boys were hurting. There were heaps of unresolved issues between Spike and her, which she acknowledged was mostly her fault for not being willing to talk pretty much ever. Ugh, if she wanted things to be different, to be better, then she needed to sit down with him and put her entire heart on the line. He needed to hear that she was in this for the long haul, and that they could finally start putting away their emotional baggage.

The hair dryer whined as she turned it off. Her long hair was still damp, but she didn’t want to wait. She figured both Demon and William would be eager to get things back onto even footing.  Making sure the fluffy towel was tight around her, she squared her shoulders. She’d grab a t-shirt and some pajama pants to wear and they could all sit down and start with the long overdue talking.

She pushed the door open and followed the last of the steam out of the bathroom.

“Wi-“ Buffy stopped dead. Her boys weren’t where she’d left them.

Not even close.

Her mind blanked and her hands dropped to hang at her sides. Red hot lust flowed in molten waves from her throbbing pussy to crest against her tight nipples. The towel around her became uncomfortably rough against her suddenly oversensitive skin.

Her guys were completely naked. William was lying on his back in the bed with Demon cuddled up against him. Demon was on his side, facing her, with one knee bent up.

The towel lost the battle with gravity and dropped to the floor unheeded.

Guh.

They were touching each other. Demon was stroking William’s straining erection unhurriedly. Her eyes followed the motion of his hand and she had to clamp her trembling thighs together to keep from falling over.

Demon’s rigid length lay along William’s thigh, the dark head standing out against William’s light skin. William was cupping and rolling Demon’s sac between his fingers. Buffy checked herself for drool.

Demon’s yellow eyes met hers briefly before closing as he bent over and kissed William on the lips. William responded eagerly. Buffy felt like she might spontaneously combust. Her nipples were stiff peaks and her clit was pulsating with need.

God, her guys made a pretty picture. Demon pale white, the muscles of his stomach twitching as William’s hand moved from fondling Demon’s testicles to gripping tightly around his shaft. William was flushed and sweating slightly, his curls in disarray. As she watched, enthralled, he rubbed the purple head of Demon’s cock against his own hard length. Both men gasped and moaned into each other’s mouths.

Rubbing her legs together Buffy became aware that the inside of her thighs were slick with her arousal. Her hand crept between her legs and flicked over her clit, trying to find some relief. What were her boys doing? Kissing and making up? William’s eye cracked open and he glanced at her for a second before shutting it again and returning to plundering Demon’s mouth.

Ah-ha! They were putting on a show for her. A we’re-sorry-we-upset-you show. Well played. She grinned. Walking to the bed she ran a hand over William’s chest. “Is this a private party or can anyone join?”

Grinning cheekily, he broke the kiss to look up at her. “Well, not just anyone, but I think you’ll do.”

Demon made room for her as she straddled William’s hips. She bent over and brought her mouth to his. William’s soft lips hungrily latched onto hers and his tongue invaded her mouth. Demon’s cool hand slid down her back to knead her ass.

William wove his fingers into her damp hair. He pulled lightly at it and groaned something into her mouth.

“What was that?” She pulled back slightly. William’s eyes wouldn’t meet hers. “Come on, tell.” She nipped the end of his nose.

He mumbled something. She stilled her hips and lifted them from where she’d been sliding against his hard-on.

“Alright, fine.” William’s lower lip jutted out and it was all Buffy could do to keep from biting it. “I said: I want to brush your hair.”

“Now?”

“Well, yes now. Not sodding next week.”

He looked adorably petulant. And the very un-William-like swearing made her smile. Unable to stop herself any longer she caught his full lower lip between her teeth and gently worried it. She tugged on it a few times before letting go so she could answer.  “Sure. Demon, would you grab my brush for me?”

Demon scrambled off the bed and she turned her head to watch his rear as he padded to the bathroom. It gave her an idea. Biting her lip, she straightened up and turned around so she was facing William’s feet. He groaned when she fisted his cock and positioned it right at her entrance. His hands were on her hips, his thumbs sweeping over the swell of her backside.

Demon, exiting the bathroom and carrying her brush, halted mid-stride as he caught sight of the tableau on the bed. Buffy locked gazes with him and dropped her hips down, impaling herself on William’s cock with a grunt. Smirking, Demon wrapped his free hand around his own dick, tugging on it in time with the rocking of her hips.

His eyes zeroed in on where she and William were joined. Demon moved his hand faster and she sped up as well, making William moan. One of her hands went to rub her clit and the other to her breast to pluck at the nipple. Demon widened his stance and threw his head back, continuing to watch her through heavily lidded eyes. The pace of his hand increased again and once more she followed suit, her breath coming in gasps as she rode William. She didn’t miss Demon’s sac drawing tighter against his body. Buffy’s finger worked frantically over her clit.

Demon rocked back on his heels and hissed as he came, not seeming to care where his semen ended up. The sight of him shaking with release shoved her over the edge as well. She orgasmed noisily, shrieking her pleasure as she ground herself uncontrollably against the hard shaft inside her. When it was over she collapsed forward, bracing her hands on William’s knees while she caught her breath.

“Hey,” William said. “You stopped.”

She patted his leg. “Hang on a second.”

Demon was licking cum off his hand, still standing in the bathroom doorway. Buffy beckoned him over. He crawled to her from the foot of the bed, kissing her softly when he reached her, being careful with his fangs.

“Uh, Demon, would you be ever so kind and persuade Miss Buffy to start-“

She clenched her inner muscles tight.

“Ahh…okay…right…” William mumbled.

Buffy held out her hand and Demon placed the brush into it. It took William a second to realize she was holding it behind her back so that he could grab it. Once he’d taken the brush she pushed herself upright and tilted her head back so her long hair was hanging freely down her back. After a moment’s hesitation William dragged the bristles through her locks. He groaned and his cock bucked inside her.

Buffy began rolling her hips again, weaving them in a figure eight pattern while continuing to move up and down. The brush felt heavenly gliding through her hair. She arched her back further and Demon’s mouth closed over a nipple. He was purring and the vibrations traveled straight to her already sensitive core. His fingers found her other nipple and rolled and pinched it. When his fangs scraped the delicate bud he was sucking she found herself flying apart again.

“Oh, goodness,” William grunted as she leaned against Demon, her arms wrapped around his neck for support. There were a few seconds of silence. William sniffed. “Ah, I hate to bring this up, Miss, but you’ve stopped again,” William said, voice strained.

“Give a girl a second.” Jeez, like the earth hadn’t just shattered.

The brush slid through her hair one more time and was gone. Buffy took a deep breath. William was wiggling under her and it was sending little shocks of pleasure through her. Letting go of Demon she raised her arms over her head and grabbed one elbow.

“Are you rea-Ow!” The back of the brush smacking her ass made her hips jerk. Her hands fell back to her sides.

William groaned. “That’s more like it.”

“Did you just…?”

The brush cracked against her other cheek. Holy hell, she’d apparently found the edge of William’s patience. The idea set off a new round of fire in her belly. Demon was smirking. He scooted back down the bed and rose up on his knees with his cock jutting proudly in front of him. There was a bead of milky liquid at the tip begging for her to taste it.

Keeping her hips rocking she leaned forward and sucked the tip of Demon’s erection into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around the swollen head and he cooed in appreciation. Hollowing her cheeks Buffy sucked as much of his shaft into her mouth as she was able. She had one hand braced on William’s leg and the other on Demon’s hip.

The feeling of William’s thick cock pumping between her legs while its twin was shoved halfway down her throat was putting her into sensory overload. She was mewing and calling Spike’s name around Demon’s hard length as she fell into one orgasm after another. William’s hands gripped her hips tightly as he jackknifed up off the bed. Babbling incoherently, he slammed himself deep into her tight pussy and found his much delayed release.

The jerking of his cock as he spent his load against her cervix sent her into one more cataclysmic orgasm. She cried her pleasure and Demon desperately worked his member over her tongue. She used her teeth to keep him from gagging her and the pain sent him howling over the edge. Noisily she sucked down his cum, nursing his cock until she’d coaxed every last drop from him.

Limbs shaking, Buffy barely managed to turn around before she collapsed against William. He was staring glassy-eyed at the ceiling. Buffy cuddled against his shoulder and picked his arm up to drape over her. Demon laid his head on William’s belly, closing his eyes as he snuggled against his human counterpart. She tweaked William’s nipple as she put her arm across him so she could rest a hand on top of Demon’s now untamed riot of bleached curls. Opening one eye, William looked at her but otherwise didn’t move.

“You hit me,” she pouted at William.

“Mmm,  yes I…” His whole body stiffened. “Buffy, I’m sorry. I should have asked, or just not done it. I.. oh, god.”

“William, stop. It’s okay. I liked it.” She looked at him shyly from under her lashes. “Especially because it was you. But-“ She kissed his chest. “I have a feeling that you’d like me spanking you even more.”

William audibly swallowed. “Miss, uh…yes, please.”


	7. Cheeseburger

Do you hope to make her see you, fool?

                -The Doors “Hello, I Love You”

****

Someone was going to die. Messily.

Whoever was calling had better have a damned good excuse for waking her up out of a very sound sleep. Buffy groaned and tried to move. Demon had shifted while they’d been sleeping and was draped over the top of her like a vampire-shaped blanket. William was on his side and pressed up against her. Currently he was drooling on her shoulder.

When she tried to push Demon off he didn’t budge. He just groggily raised his head and growled in the direction of the phone, so she elbowed William instead. He yelped and sat bolt upright. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“You were drooling on me and the phone’s ringing.”

William looked in horror at her shoulder. With an exasperated huff Demon reached out and pushed William off the bed.

“I think he wants you to answer the phone,” Buffy said cheerfully.  

William muttered under his breath as he walked into the kitchen area of the suite and picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

Buffy wiggled under Demon. She was beginning to need to pee. He was petting her hair and making happy rumbling noises.  Another wiggle and she felt his hardened length poke into her thigh. Well, since it was sort of her fault, she guessed she’d just have to take care of it. Darn. Demon put a hand on her cheek and looked down at her with one eyebrow raised. He was asking. It made her all gooey inside. Buffy nodded and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her bladder could wait for a few minutes. “Better make it quick,” she whispered to him.

The tip of his cock brushed over her folds a few times before Demon found the right angle and pushed up inside her. They both sighed at the connection. Pressing kisses to her jaw Demon began rocking his hips.

William was still standing in the kitchen with his back towards the bed. “Look, Angel, I’m sorry it took a minute to answer the phone, we were sleeping. No I don’t know what time it is…Six-thirty p.m.? Really?...A lead? That is excellent news. Brilliant…Of course we’ll want to accompany you to investigate it…I’m human, not incompetent, and I’m not staying behind while Buffy heads off into almost certain danger…” He turned around to face the bed and his eyes widened. “Dear Me! What…no, nothing about you…I just turned my back for two minutes…That’s none of your business…Yes, give me the specifics and we’ll meet you at eight…”

Demon was moving fast and hard now. His hands were on her wrists, pinning them over her head. Smiling, Buffy was watching William as he talked to Angel. While she and Demon were grunting and going at it like rabid minks, William’s eyes never left them. His cock swelled and lengthened until it hung heavy and proud between his thighs. His face was flushing various shades of red and his voice had become squeaky. Obviously being highly aroused while trying to remain civil to Angel was not fun for him.

With an exasperate sigh William held the receiver away from his ear and with a slightly raised voice said into the mouthpiece: “No, for the last time, Buffy cannot come to the phone right now. She’s indisposed and she’s…she’s about to be…to be more indisposed!” He hung up, frowned at the phone, picked the handset back up and left it sitting on the counter.

He walked over to stand beside the bed, eyes wide as he watched Demon pound into her.

Demon’s cock grew even larger inside her and with a flurry of frantic thrusts he came, kissed her briefly, and rolled off her. What the hey? Buffy pouted at his back as he sat on the side of the bed and stretched. A warm hand on her shoulder drew her attention.

“Right bothersome, isn’t he?” William chuckled. Demon flipped him off without looking.

“I wasn’t done.” Buffy stuck her lower lip out even further.

With a groan, William pressed her down onto the bed. “That’s because he knew I’d take care of you.” William caught her lip between his teeth and tugged gently.

“You’d better,” she whispered.

“Always,” he said against her lips. Smiling, he braced his knees on either side of her hips and brought her ankles to rest on his shoulders. Keeping one hand on her leg he grabbed his cock with the other and directed it into her sopping pussy. She gasped as he slowly filled her. Once his entire length was inside her he stilled and brought his hand to her clit. He rubbed the swollen nub in tight circles and she came quickly, undulating against his hand while her pussy pulsed around his shaft.

William started plowing into her. “That’s my girl. You feel so good. All mine, Buffy. Tell me you’re all mine.”

Demon crawled over to her and sucked the pebbled nipple of one of her jiggling breasts into his mouth.

“Spike! Yes, all yours. I’m your girl. Please…oh…”

She arced up again, moaning loudly as her orgasm peaked. It seemed to go on and on. William followed her over the edge, his cock jerking inside her. He collapsed on top of her, panting.

Demon licked the sweat off her shoulder, humming happily. He patted William on the back.

Buffy’s fingers curled into the soft hair at the nape of William’s neck. “I think I need another shower.”    

****

Angel checked his watch: 8:05.

They were late.

 He dropped his hand and tapped his fingers nervously against his thigh. Wesley, Gunn, and Willow were leaning against the receptionist’s desk, chatting. It sounded like they were comparing apocalypses.

8:06

Maybe he should go up and check on them instead of staring at the elevators. What the hell could be taking the three of them so long?

Scratch that, he really didn’t want to know.

8:07

He’d already gotten an eyeful earlier in the day. When he’d called room 561 it’d been William that’d answered. The boy hadn’t knuckled under quickly like Angel had thought he would. It’d bothered him, and when William had hung up on him Angel hadn’t been able to help himself—he’d clicked on the security camera feed.

He’d regretted the decision instantly. The demon part of Spike had been jackhammering Buffy into the bed while the boy watched. Angel had shut the feed off immediately.  Almost immediately, anyway.

8:08

It hadn’t mattered. The image was burned into his brain. Buffy had been digging her heels into the demon’s ass to spur him on. What the hell was wrong with her? She could do so much better. He looked helplessly at his hands; shouldn’t they be the only ones touching her?

8:09

The elevator doors opened and Buffy, the boy, and the demon tumbled out like overgrown puppies. They were laughing and shoving playfully at each other.

All three were dressed alike: wearing dark shirts, dark jeans, and boots, just as Angel had said that they needed to be. The boy had his glasses on slightly crooked and his curls were still damp. Buffy’s blonde hair was swept up into a ponytail. Angel frowned. The ends looked wet. The demon had half its hair slicked back, but the other side was a tangled riot.

Angel heaved a sigh as he realized the creature’s hair was wet too. That answered the question of why they were late.

The demon wiggled out of the hand Buffy had on its arms and ran to Willow. He picked her up and swung her around.

“I’m glad to see you too,” she laughed. “But you’re not using me as an excuse for not getting your hair brushed. _Ligo_.”

The demon froze. Buffy quickly whipped a comb out and finished slicking back its hair. “Now keep your hands out of it,” she admonished and nodded at Willow, who dropped the spell. The creature pouted at Buffy, who kissed it on the cheek. With an eye roll the vamp slunk back to its human counterpart, who’d hung back, wary of Angel.

The vampire positioned itself between the boy and Angel and they both gave him a wide berth as they made their way to Buffy.

Angel crossed his arms and made sure his face looked convincing. “Since we’re all here now, I can give you a quick briefing. I received intelligence this afternoon that there’s a nest of demons near an area where the scroll made it sound like the Thing of Doom could rise. We need to check it out, see if we can eradicate the nest, and perhaps learn something about the coming creature. Gunn, you’re driving.” Angel tossed him the keys. “I’ve got the general area and the GPS coordinates. Any questions?”

Six heads shook side to side.

“Good. Let’s get going, we need to get ahead of this Thing.”

****

The screen of Angel’s phone was a lone dot of light in the back of the van as Gunn sped towards the GPS coordinates the informant had supplied. Angel flipped through the news stories and tried to ignore the three people sitting on the bench seat in front of him. Wesley, sitting next to Angel, had tilted his head against the side window and appeared to be asleep. Willow, who’d called shotgun, and Gunn were chatting about some obscure point of law having to do with the use of magic to seal locks.

Buffy and the boy had their heads together and were giggling about something. It was distracting. She had a knee hooked over William’s legs and one of the boy’s arms was lying along the seat behind her.  The demon leaned over so its head was resting on her shoulder. Angel watched, mouth agape, as the boy petted the back of his counterpart’s head.

 _If that was us, I’d kill Liam first, t_ he cold voice of Angelus whispered inside his skull. Angel bit his lip to distract himself, but it didn’t work. There was no ignoring the truth that if he’d been the one split, Angelus and Liam wouldn’t be sitting together cuddling with Buffy.

Angel loved the girl, but the womanizing man he’d once been rebelled at the thought of having only her when there were so many lovely girls just waiting for a tall, dark and handsome man to sweep them off their feet. Girls that weren’t currently getting the hell screwed out of them by Spike. Angel winced and pushed that thought, and images, aside.

Buffy needed someone who’d be there for her. He’d loved her since she was fifteen. She loved him. Why did his idiot grandchilde have to be in the way?

 _I could make the girl ours,_ Angelus’ insidious voice insisted. The image of Buffy, bloody, broken, and naked while begging for him to shove his cock into her mouth appeared before his mind’s eye.

Nope. He shut that down, too. He tried to focus back on the news story about the meteor that he’d been reading.

Buffy’s tinkling laughter grabbed his attention again. William was telling her a story about some mischief a guy named Andrew had gotten up to during that last year in Sunnydale. The demon looked bored. Angel’s eyes widened as the creature’s clawed hand dropped down and began massaging Buffy’s breast through her shirt. The girl pretended to ignore him, though William cuffed him lightly on the back of his head. The creature simply switched to the other breast.

Buffy shifted and pushed her chest subtly forward, the thin fabric of her shirt clinging to the now pebbled tips of her breasts. The demon tweaked one peak hard and Buffy let out a moan.

That was it.

“Hey!” Angel barked loudly, making everyone jump. “There was a bright fireball from a meteor seen out over the ocean last night. The scroll mentioned there’d be signs in the heavens. I think this meteor might fit.”

“It is a distinct possibility.” Wesley shrugged. “Is there a video?”

“Yeah, we can check it out when we get back. The portents really appear to be pointing to this Thing of Doom making its appearance soon.”

Silence filled the van’s interior.

“Can we stop at 7-11?” Buffy asked after a few minutes. “I’m really thirsty.”

“Yeah, sure. There’s one on the next corner.” Gunn put the van’s blinker on.

Willow twisted in her seat and grinned happily at Buffy. “Slurpees all around!”

Angel stayed in the van while everyone else piled into the convenience store. He crossed his arms and clenched his teeth. He’d really thought his crew, and even Buffy, would be more excited about the meteor. Wasn’t anyone else worried? Sure, there wasn’t actually anything to worry about, but they didn’t know that.

Maybe if the meteor dropped right on their heads. Not that he’d do that. Not that he could do that. Could he?

The seats filled back up as everyone returned with their drinks. Angel looked askance at the demon, who was noisily drinking a bright red Slurpee through a straw. It didn’t surprise him in the least that the guy behind the counter hadn’t even batted an eye at the vamp’s presence. L.A. was a pretty scary place. Buffy patted her coat pocket before settling back against the seat as the boy’s arm went around her again. They were sharing a single drink, taking turns sucking at the straw and kissing briefly whenever they tried to take a sip at the same time. It was sickeningly cute.

Angel closed his eyes. Maybe a meteor would drop on his head and put him out of his misery. This had become the longest trip in the history of the universe.

****

The air in the rundown warehouse was fetid. Buffy’s nose scrunched up and beside her William smothered a cough. Rotten fish, dank mold, and death mixed into a special kind of stink. Demon snorted, trying to get the stench out of his sinuses.

Water dripped down the walls and off the ceiling to puddle on the pockmarked concrete floor. Buffy adjusted her hands on her Scythe, which Willow had graciously transported from Scotland for her. Without it Buffy felt naked in a fight. Not that either of her boys would complain if that was the case. She smiled to herself.

Next to her, William was managing to step in every puddle, complaining under his breath about doing so, and in general making enough noise for ten people. He had a dagger in a sheath on his belt, but was currently wielding a flashlight, which mostly pointed the way they were headed. The rest of the team was spread out. Willow had a ball of floating light illuminating her way. Gunn and Wesley were darting down side corridors, heavily armed and with night vision eyepieces. Angel and his gang were certainly well-funded.

Angel himself was in gameface, sulking along in the rear.

Buffy was having a hard time keeping track of Demon as he wove in and out of the shadows. He’d range off ahead or down a side passage, only to fall in step beside her a second later, then he’d be off again. It was very…predatory. She found herself feeling more than a little proud of him. Demon might be a poor fit for the halls of Wolfram and Hart, but here he was in his element. He was sleek, cool, and deadly.

It was a massive turn on. When Demon prowled back to her side after the next intersection Buffy couldn’t help but shiver under his yellow-eyed stare. The look turned speculative as his sensitive nose picked out her scent from all the others that were crowding the warehouse. He caught the tip of his tongue between his fangs as he leered at her, wiggling it suggestively. Buffy flushed, but a clattering ahead of them had Demon taking off soundlessly to investigate.

He was back a minute later, holding up a hand to halt everyone. Buffy crept forward when he beckoned her with one clawed finger. A few meters further down the main corridor the walls widened until Buffy and Demon were in a room that could fit a football field. The ceiling and far walls were lost to darkness. In front of them was a nest of demons. There were twenty or so of the scaly creatures. Whatever they were, it wasn’t a species Buffy recognized. What was clear was that they were deadly. One of the creatures was hunkered down on its haunches chewing on the lower leg of a human. There was still a stark white sock and a Birkenstock sandal on the foot.

Once back with the others, Buffy quickly explained what she’d seen. Options were quickly discussed, but as the demons appeared to be actively killing, everyone felt there was little choice but to take them out head on before they hurt anyone else. Buffy kept glancing worriedly at William. He was holding the flashlight trained on the ground as Gunn quickly outlined a plan of attack. If William got hurt she didn’t think she’d be able to forgive herself. And while William had Spike’s memories and knowledge of fighting, he didn’t have vampire strength or reflexes. Fear churned in her gut.

“Can you maybe, I don’t know…expand that will o’ the wisp you’ve got there?” Gunn asked Willow.

“Maybe, but the light still wouldn’t be very bright.”

“Why don’t we simply illuminate the industrial lights affixed to the ceiling?” William frowned as everyone’s eyes landed on him. “I’ve been keeping track of the power nodes since we entered this abominable place, and at the junction of each set of corridors the blinking light that indicates the presence of functional power has been apparent. I believe if someone were to toggle the switch in the main room that light would indeed be restored.”

“Worth a try.” Wesley shrugged. “If it doesn’t work be ready with your witch light, Willow.”

She nodded.

“William, you’ll be in charge of that switch.” Buffy turned to look at him and she forced her fingers to relax from their death-grip on the Scythe. He was competent, he’d just proven that. He’d be okay. “Demon and I will cover you. Everyone else know your places?” There were nods all around. “Then let’s go.”

They fanned out into the main room. The unchanged sounds of the demons in their nest suggested they were unaware death was coming for them. The switch wasn’t far from the entrance and William, after taking a deep breath, hauled the handle into the ‘on’ position. There was a loud clunk and the entire floor of the warehouse was lit up like daytime.

The scaly creatures let out an unearthly howl. Oh, crap. There were a lot of them. Way, way more than twenty. Buffy and Demon were soon busy dispatching the demons as a pack attempted to barge past them to the light switch. Thankfully the creatures weren’t very smart. They rushed en mass like lemmings, allowing Buffy to chop into them haphazardly with little need to aim. Demon was doing the same, but with a sword.

She almost wished for better foes, as fighting beside Demon was the same amazing dance as always. They swirled around each other, instinctively knowing what the other was doing. Back-to-back when pressed, lining up kills for the other. It was glorious. When at last the number of attacking creatures slowed down Buffy was able to check on how the rest of the team was doing. Angel was tearing the demons apart gleefully with his bare hands, Willow had taken down a sizable number with a few fire spells, and Wesley and Gunn had firearms out and were moving through the fallen bodies of the demons, putting bullets into the heads of any that moved and mowing down any that were dumb enough to rush them.

“Don’t think, fiend, that I will be easy prey!” William’s voice came from behind her. Buffy whirled about to see a single scaly creature lunging at William. She took off running, but knew she wouldn’t get there before the demon reached him.

William’s eyes were wide, but he looked determined. As the creature rushed him he sidestepped and brought his dagger down into the demon’s back. It fell to the ground and William was quick to pull his knife out and plunge it back in several more times, making sure the thing wouldn’t get up.

Buffy slid to a stop in front of him. “Are you okay?”

“Very well!” His eyes were gleaming. “Did you see, Miss? I killed it!” He laughed, delighted.

Demon sauntered over to stand beside her. He tapped her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

“Twenty-one,” she said, smirking.

Demon held up all ten fingers, made fists and held up all ten again. He dropped his hands and waited a beat before grinning and holding up two fingers in a less than polite manner. Buffy rolled her eyes. Twenty-two. He’d won. The jerk.

William gingerly stepped around the corpse at his feet and threw his arms around Demon. “I got one! See! All on my own! I didn’t need you at all,” he babbled, pointing excitedly to the creature he’d killed. With a bemused smile Demon patted William on the head. Letting Demon go, William wrapped his arms around Buffy. “You were all worried about nothing. I was fine. I took care of that thing good and proper!”

“You did.” She smiled at his infectious enthusiasm and poked him in the ribs.

William pulled Buffy tighter against him. “You smell good,” he mumbled into her hair. His body molded against hers and his breathing became ragged. “Good God, Buffy. I want you so bad right now.” William’s voice was husky and all the muscles in his back were tight. She glanced down at the way his erection was pushing at the zipper of his pants. The rumbling her stomach had been doing got downgraded as lust, hot and demanding, roared through her.

Hungry and horny were quickly rearranged to horny and hungry.

She wanted to drop to her knees and tear into William’s pants. A hand on her arm stopped her and she met Demon’s heavy-lidded gaze. Demon took her hand and placed it over the hardness in his jeans and Buffy was lost. She needed her guys now. Demon jerked his chin towards a doorway to the right.

Buffy quickly glanced around but the others were all busy mopping up the last of the scaly creatures. With a grin she darted to the door and pushed it open.  It led to a surprisingly clean storage closet. The shelves were mostly empty and pushed against the far wall.

The instant the door clicked closed Demon was on her, shoving her jacket off her shoulders and pulling her shirt over her head. He fastened onto one of her peaked nipples and she moaned. William found her lips with his and thrust his tongue deep into her mouth.

Buffy leaned back against the door, her legs shaking. “Oh. My. God,” she whimpered. “I’m so going to have both of you, right now. And then I want a cheeseburger.”


	8. Riley

Don'tcha know that I love you?

                -Iron Butterfly, “In A Gadda Da Vida”

****

“Uh,” Buffy managed to gasp as William’s lips left hers and he trailed warm, open-mouthed kisses down her neck. Demon was alternating between her breasts, teasing a nipple into a hard peak and grazing it with his fangs before abandoning it to switch to the other. She had an arm around each of their necks, but her legs were threatening to give out. “Down!” she croaked.

“Getting there,” William murmured against her shoulder.

“I mean: I need to lie down.”

“Oh, right.” Reluctantly, William raised his head to look around the room, but it was Demon that ran to one of the shelves, climbed halfway up, and pulled down what looked like a wad of old sheets that must have been used as drop clothes for painting at some point. With a flourish he spread them out on the ground and gestured for Buffy and William to get comfortable.

Chuckling, William swept her off her feet and spun her around a few times, making her giggle, before he knelt and gently laid her down on the slightly musty-smelling sheets. The scent quickly faded from her consciousness as William covered her body with his and hungrily devoured her mouth. He was warm and heavy on top of her.

She whimpered at the loss when William was roughly pushed off her. He landed beside her with a started grunt. His place was filled by a very naked and wiggly Demon. Buffy remembered she had hands and stroked the rippling muscles of his back while he sucked lightly at the sensitive places on her neck. His erection was impossible to ignore as he ground it against her thigh.

Beside her William sighed and shifted so he was on his knees. He took his glasses off and set them to the side, well out of the way, before turning back to watch her and Demon writhing. The patient, indulgent look on his face bothered her. Exactly what was he waiting on? Buffy grabbed the front of his t-shirt and pulled him closer.  He seemed unsure about what to do for a moment, but Demon looked up and his hand replaced Buffy’s on William’s shirt. With a growl, Demon pulled his counterpart in for a demanding kiss while he continued to grind himself against Buffy’s core.

Whimpering, she tilted her pelvis, trying to get the friction she needed to ease the increasingly overwhelming ache between her thighs. Her fingernails dug viciously into Demon’s back while her other hand reached out to rub William’s erection through his pants. Why was he still dressed?

Both men groaned and she could see their tongues swirling together. William’s hand was on the back of Demon’s head, pulling him closer. Heat was swirling in hot eddies through her belly. William was panting when they finally broke the kiss. For a second both William and Demon were staring into each other’s eyes, then simultaneously they smirked and dropped their lips to Buffy’s breasts. Each one grabbed one of her hands and pinned it beside her while Demon shifted so he was straddling one of her thighs instead of being between her legs, giving William room to get close to her.

Their mouths were fire and ice and she was lost somewhere in between. She was gasping and mewling. Her nipples seemed to be directly connected to the pulsing desire between her legs. Demon’s cool lips were roughly sucking and his fangs were sharply pinching one nipple while William’s warm, wet mouth was gently rolling the other peak. She was going mad. The fingertips of one hand were digging into Demon’s back while the other was fisted into William’s hair, anchoring him against her.

Her hips were lifting, seeking contact. A hand, she couldn’t tell whose, settled onto her still-jean-covered mound and began grinding against her clit. She pushed back and arched up to push her breasts further into her lovers’ mouths.

With a guttural moan she came, her legs shaking and her hips undulating. Her orgasm made her entire body pulse and her vision white out, but it wasn’t enough. She felt empty, the walls of her vagina clamping down only against each other. Buffy wanted to be filled, to feel the stretch of William or Demon’s body inside her own, to give pleasure as well as receive it. 

Her eyes fluttered opened to find her guys grinning at her, their foreheads resting together. Brats.

She focused on William and frowned. “Why are you still dressed?” She sat up and grabbed at his t-shirt, rising up on her knees so she could pull it over his head. Tossing it away she ran her hands down the planes and ridges of his torso. He was slightly sweaty and Buffy leaned forward to drag her tongue up the middle of his chest. God, she loved the taste of him.

She was forced to pause as Demon tugged off her boots. His nimble fingers undid the fastening to her jeans and dragged them down her legs along with her undies. Bracing her hands on William’s thighs she lifted her knees so Demon could strip her completely. Once she was naked, William cupped her cheek and kissed her deeply. They were both on their knees, lips melded together while their tongues danced.

When William’s mouth left hers to trail kisses down her neck, Buffy turned her head, looking for Demon.  He was sitting a few feet away, knees bent and apart. He had an elbow propped up on one knee and was jerking himself off with his other hand. Buffy moaned and there was a fresh pulse of heat through her core. Demon, catching her watching, curled his tongue up behind his fangs and winked at her. Her breath caught in her throat.

William’s warm hand grabbing and kneading the cheek of her ass returned her attention to him. He still had his damned pants on. That wasn’t okay. With a yelp of frustration, Buffy roughly undid his belt and yanked it from the loops. She dropped the belt to the floor with a clatter. Making short work of his button and zipper she shoved his jeans and boxers halfway down his thighs.

His cock was thick, heavy, and pointed nearly directly at her pussy. As she stared, a drop of pearly precome beaded at the tip and dropped to the ground. Not wanting to let any more escape she hunched over and sucked William’s shaft deep into her mouth. Pulling back until only the head was in her mouth she darted her tongue into the slit at the end and lapped at the liquid she found there.

“Buffy, please, oh g…goodness,” William panted. Both his hands settled gently on her head. She bobbed her head up and down over his cock, taking in as much as she could. “Ah…Buffy…Demon.”

She only had a split-second to try and figure out what William was saying before cold hands grabbed her hips and Demon slammed his entire length into her from behind. The momentum knocked her forward and had her inadvertently deep throating William’s cock. She reflexively swallowed and William let out a strangled yelp. Demon yanked her hips back and started rutting hard and fast into her. His claws were clamped tight onto her and she could barely move. After a few moments William tentatively moved his own hips in shallow thrusts. Buffy hollowed her cheeks and sucked as his cock slipped in and out of her lips.

Demon was fucking her like a jackhammer. It didn’t hurt, but she knew she wasn’t going to get off that way and she doubted he cared. She was being used and it felt glorious. It was only a few minutes before Demon’s thrusts became ragged and he came with a rasping growl, filling her with his come. She pulsed the muscles of her pussy, milking him.

When his cock stopped spasming he didn’t pull out. Demon’s fingers glided over her slick flesh. He must have bitten his claws off again because she didn’t feel them scratching her. He tweaked her clit, making her squirm, before returning to lightly petting her labia and tugging at her pubic hair.

William’s hard-on was still in her mouth. He was continuing to move unhurriedly while stroking her face and babbling about how much he loved her. She traced the veins of his shaft with the tip of her tongue, enjoying how it made his breath catch.

Inside her, Demon’s cock was already hardening again. Buffy pushed back against him, trying to give him a hint. Instead he pinched her backside and rubbed his fingers around where they were joined, bringing the combination of her cream and his come up to the tight bud of her ass. Taking a deep breath, Buffy relaxed and Demon’s finger slid into her.

William froze. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at Demon. “You didn’t even ask her! Bad enough you did it to me, but-“

“It’s fine.” Buffy had pushed William back so she could speak. “I knew what he was doing.” Demon huffed and slid another finger inside her, undeterred.

“Are you going to, uh…” William swallowed audibly. “Are you going to, put…” She couldn’t tell if he sounded horrified or excited. Maybe both? His cock was still bobbing right in front of her face and she didn’t think it was her imagination that it swelled a little more at the idea of Demon pounding into her ass.

Demon made a sound that was obviously the vampire equivalent of ‘duh’. He scissored his fingers out slightly and Buffy groaned, mind whiting out a little at the combined pleasure and pain. When she regained two brain cells to rub together, Buffy reluctantly pulled herself off Demon’s cock and fingers. He whined and tried to grab her, but she was already standing and walking towards her coat.

Demon looked confused and William was glaring daggers at him.

“I just need to get something out of my jacket,” she reassured them. “We’re not done yet.” Both men visibly relaxed.  Buffy fished around in her pockets and pulled out the bottle of lube she’d surreptitiously bought at the convenience store.

She glanced up to find William staring at Demon’s cock. Demon was leaning back on his elbows, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. His shaft lay thick and rigid against his belly, glistening in the dim light with the combination of his come and her juices. Seeing her eyes flicker between him and William, Demon smirked. He nodded his head towards Buffy and William turned his face towards her, blushing.

“I…um…” he sputtered.

“Do you want to know what me and Demon taste like together?” she whispered, hardly daring to breathe.

There was a beat and then William nodded. On hands and knees, he crept to Demon’s side. Buffy’s hand went to her throbbing clit. Dropping his head down, which made his curls tumble sweetly over his forehead, he licked Demon’s cock from base to tip. With a moan, Demon’s head tilted back.

Buffy stumbled forward and went to her knees at the edge of the drop cloth, her finger flicking furiously back and forth over her clit while her eyes remained locked on her boys. William settled a hand on Demon’s hip and sucked the vampire’s cock deep into his mouth. Buffy came, nearly sobbing with relief. Only, it still wasn’t right. She needed Demon or William inside her. No, she needed Demon and William inside her.

She crawled over to where her boys were and put a hand on William’s back. His eyes were clamped shut as he enthusiastically sucked on his counterpart’s cock. “Is it good?” she asked, running her hand down to grab his ass. William’s face flamed red and he quickly let go of Demon, who squawked in protest.

William sat back on his heels and swiped at his mouth. “Uh, yeah…sorry.”

“Sorry?” Buffy was confused.

Demon scoffed.

“I got somewhat carried away.” William scratched the back of his neck while his blush deepened and spread to his chest.

Buffy blinked. It’d never occurred to her that any part of Spike might be embarrassed by anything sexual that they did, and certainly not by what was essentially masturbation. She wrapped her arms around William. “What you did was make me get off. You know I’ve always liked watching you touch yourself.”

“Erm, yes. I suppose…”

She kissed him, William’s lips tasting of the mix of her cream and Demon’s come that he’d licked off Demon’s cock. William was right, it did taste good. With a moan she deepened the kiss, hungrily sucking on his tongue when it intruded into her mouth. William clutched her tightly against him, his hard-on trapped between their bodies. He was the only one that hadn’t come yet. Poor baby. She’d have to fix that.

A foot poked her leg. Demon reminding her not to ignore him. Buffy shook herself. She’d had a plan. With a smile she grabbed William’s hand and dropped the bottle of lube in his palm. Her smile turned feral as she crawled up Demon’s body. She kissed him briefly before lying down on her side next to him. He rolled so he was facing her and pulled her thigh up over his hip. With a relieved huff Demon thrust his entire length deep into her pussy and then stilled. They both turned their faces to William.

He was darting his eyes between the bottle and her. “Don’t you think it should be Demon that…”

Buffy managed not to roll her eyes. “No. I trust you to be gentle with me.”

Her words worked like magic. William immediately lay down behind her.  He kissed the back of her neck and Demon reached over to pat William’s hip.

William’s breathing accelerated and then his lube-covered finger was running over the delicate skin of her rear entrance. “Are you positive this is what you want, Buffy?” he asked.

Demon made a gurgling noise and cuffed William on the shoulder.

William ignored him. “Buffy?”

“Yes,” she groaned. “I’m one-hundred percent positive that if you don’t get busy back there I might die of lust.”

William’s finger pushed inside her. He worked it in as far as it could go before pulling back and adding a second. Her entire existence narrowed to the sensations between her legs. Buffy shuddered as William pressed his fingers forwards against the hardness of Demon’s cock where it rested inside her pussy. Demon grunted and his shaft jerked in response, making all three of them gasp.

“Buffy…” William’s voice was muffled against her shoulder. “I really need to…” He was panting. “I need to…”

“Huh?” was all her bleary mind was able to come up with.

“I would very much like to put my…prick inside of you now. Please.”

“Okay,” she mumbled. What was taking him so long, anyway? Was there Victorian etiquette about screwing someone in the ass she’d messed up?

William’s fingers left her. She tensed at the emptiness and gasped as the head of his cock breached her anus. Oh…that…hurt, a little. Buffy took a deep breath and relaxed. William was breathing deeply as well. With every exhalation he pushed his shaft further into her. Most of the pain receded as she became accustomed to the intrusion.

When he was completely inside her he paused and rested his forehead against the back of her neck. Demon was making little sniffling, happy noises and alternating between petting Buffy and William’s hair.

This is what she had needed: to be full of the man she loved. To be surrounded by him. To not have another care in the world. To be happy. Tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

Demon snorted in alarm and wiped a few off her face with his thumb, which he then pressed into William’s mouth. William batted his hand away. “Miss, Buffy, are you okay, am I hurting you?” He started to slide from her body.

Her hand whipped back to grab his hip and stop him. “I’m good. I just missed you so much. Spike, I…love you. More than I have any idea how to say. Make love to me. The world is okay now, I have you.”

“I love you, too,” William whispered and Demon took her hand and held it against his chest with his own.

William gently thrust back inside her and Buffy moaned. There was a pause as her guys looked at each other and wordlessly came to an agreement. Demon started rocking his hips in an easy rhythm. After a minute William groaned and began moving in counterpoint.

Were those mewling noises coming out of her throat?

It was overwhelming. Almost more than she could take. Nothing else existed except the slip of William and Demon’s cocks in and out of her body. Buffy had expected to feel full and to enjoy herself, but she’d mostly thought it to be such an odd sensation that she might not easily orgasm.

Oh god, she’d been wrong.

Very wrong.

She bit down on Demon’s chest to muffle her almost-scream as she peaked. The moment went on and on as she hung at the summit. Her hands fluttered against Demon as he gently patted the curve of her hip and hummed his approval. William was breathing raggedly, his breath warm against her neck.

Demon increased the pace of his thrusts and after a brief hesitation William matched his pace. Buffy had little room in her mind for anything besides sensation. The steady work of her lovers, the feel of both of them inside her pressing against her and each other had her quickly coming again. Her head fell back against William’s shoulder as she keened. The orgasmic pulses from her muscles were just shy of painful. She was crying again.

“Ohgodohgod,” William was chanting behind her. He was panting harshly and she could feel his abdominal muscles tensing. He slammed into her one last time and came with a hoarse cry of her name.

Demon increased his pace, pistoning inside her, grunting with the effort. Buffy knew what he needed. She tilted her head back to his chest and bit him again, hard. Demon went off like a firecracker, his cock erupting inside her as his body writhed and he howled. When he collapsed against the floor , wide-eyed and panting, Buffy switched to softly kissing the spot over his heart and William tenderly cupped Demon’s face and ran a thumb back and forth over his cheek.

They curled up around each other, arms and legs tangled. There were no words for the happiness and contentment Buffy felt. And that was fine, she was content just to feel it.

****

After five minutes straight of telling her guys she was just fine, her legs went noodly three feet outside the closet door. Demon scooped her up without breaking stride. He cradled her gently and cooed sweetly against the top of her head. William briefly squeezed her ankle. He was wearing what on anyone else she would have called a shit-eating grin, but on him it looked adorable. Buffy had the feeling she might be biased.

Demon stopped abruptly and set her down, though he kept his arm around her. Growling low in his throat, he jerked his chin towards the middle of the warehouse floor.

Angel and his team weren’t alone. Five men clad in black and armed to the teeth stood silently watchful while their leader discussed something with Angel in low tones. Their faces were covered, but Buffy could tell they were scanning the room. The instant the closest one spotted her and her boys he shouted and brought up his rifle. Four more guns were quickly trained on Demon, the red dots of laser sights dancing over his heart.

Buffy panicked. She darted in front of Demon despite his roar of protest.

“Move aside, ma’am, sir,” the man closest to them stated. William had stepped in front of Demon as well, standing shoulder to shoulder with her. A tremor wracked through William’s body and Buffy grasped his hand with hers. She squeezed his fingers reassuringly.

“Stand down!” commanded an oddly familiar voice. The five men immediately snapped to attention and lowered their weapons. The man that’d been talking to Angel had turned towards her. He reached up and pulled off his ski mask, leaving his sandy-blond hair sticking up in all directions. “Buffy?” he asked.

Buffy’s jaw dropped. “Riley?”


	9. Shake

Ah, now I don't hardly know her

                -Tommy James & The Shondells, “Crimson and Clover”

****

Buffy was confused. Somehow Riley was standing in front of her. He’d just been talking to Angel. Where were Wesley and Willow? Gunn was a little way behind his boss, leaning against a concrete pillar with his arms crossed. Buffy’s breath was rushing in and out as dread threatened to overwhelm her. Was this some sort of conspiracy to kill Spike? She could probably take the soldiers out, guns and all, with only minimal damage to herself, but William was another manner. He wouldn’t be able to dodge as fast as her or Demon and lacked accelerated healing. There wasn’t any cover where they were standing. She squeezed William’s hand tightly in her own, ready to shield him with her own body if need be. Tentacles of fear were wrapping around her.

Riley’s brows were drawn together. “Buffy? What are you doing here?” His eyes narrowed as they focused on Demon. “And is that Spike?”

“It’s complicated,” Buffy replied with a glance at William. He’d gone deathly pale and his hand was clammy in hers. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked him. His fingers twitched but otherwise he didn’t respond.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s good to see you.” Riley took a step towards her.

“Stay there,” she snapped at him. Riley froze, frowning.

Demon was growling low in his throat.  

Buffy wiggled out of the grip William had on her hand and grabbed his shoulders, turning him towards her. Her eyes met his and she gasped. He was terrified. Tremors ran through his body. “What’s wrong?” she whispered. William’s eyes were wide and his gaze seemed fixed on something besides the here and now. He swallowed hard but didn’t answer. Demon’s claws dug into her shoulder as he pointed with the other hand at Riley.

She scrunched up her nose. She wasn’t thrilled to see her ex, but since William was human he probably had little to fear from Riley and his demon hunting goons. Riley hadn’t even been that useful the last time she’d seen him…

Oh.

The last time she’d seen him. When she’d run to Spike and asked him to make love to her as a man, only to have Riley waltz in. The soldier had appeared and she’d literally blown Spike’s world apart. Her stomach flipped as she remembered how she’d called him William and said it was over between them. Biggest lie in the history of lies.

In the closet she’d asked William to make love to her, and now here was Riley. To William it must feel like history was repeating itself. Buffy took a shuddering breath. This she could fix. She threw her arms around William and smushed herself against him. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. Never again. You and me against the world, remember?” His head dropped to her shoulder and he shook with a repressed sob. “I love you, Spike,” she whispered. He remained unmoving against her with his arms limp at his sides. He seemed to have gone nearly catatonic, and if the man was paralyzed…

Buffy turned as Demon stormed past her with a snarl, yellow eyes blazing. Keeping one arm around William she caught Demon by the back of his pants, stalling his suicidal rush. Frightened commandos had their guns back up and sighted on the enraged vampire.

“I don’t think so mister,” she said, not letting go even when Demon stopped trying to pull out of her grasp. He pointed a claw emphatically at a very confused-looking Riley. “Don’t get me wrong. I understand, but there might be wooden bullets in those guns and I’m not risking you.” Demon deflated a little.

“I thought Spike died when the Sunnydale hellmouth closed.” Riley was still standing there, ski mask in hand, appearing completely lost.

She didn’t have time for him. “I said: It’s complicated.”

“Oh.” He blinked.

Angel shuffled his feet. “See, there was this amulet that I was supposed to wear…”

“Shut up, Angel.” Buffy didn’t want his two cents, either.

“I can smell you three, you know,” he grumbled, “I thought you were supposed to be patrolling the perimeter, not-“

“Shut up, Angel,” she ground out through a clenched jaw. One more word and she’d rip his head off.

Demon was growling softly at Riley, who’d taken a few steps towards Buffy.

“We should talk,” Riley said, his hands tugging the ski mask out of shape.

“Sure. I get real chatty when I have rifles pointed in my direction.”

“Uh, guys, stand down.” Riley made a sharp gesture with one hand and the soldiers’ weapons were pointed at the floor again.

Riley took another step towards her and Demon’s growling picked up in volume.

“Later, Riley,” she said. “I’m staying at the Wolfram & Hart offices. You can call me there.”

Demon made a strangled noise and spun towards her, making her lose her grip on him.

“Talking, just talking, that’s all,” she reassured a stunned Demon. He made a face and his lower lip crept out. With a huff he yanked his shirt up and pointed at the faint, round scar over his heart. “I know.” Buffy reached her hand out and flattened it out over his sternum. Demon let go of his shirt and covered her fingers with his. “I know. It’s not like I’ve forgiven him for staking you, I just…”

“What?” Angel thundered. Every eye in the room turned towards him. William even raised his head from her shoulder at the outburst. Angel’s brown eyes swirled with gold for a second before he lost the battle with the demon. His face shifted and he bristled at Riley. The commandos had their guns up and trained on the new threat. “You staked my childe?” he roared.

Riley gulped. “It was a plastic stake.”

“It was when Spike was chipped and didn’t have a way to fight back.” Buffy couldn’t help herself. Seeing Angel righteously furious over the treatment of his grandchilde was knitting some wounds closed she’d barely even known she had. She’d noted the vampiric tendency to do away with degrees of relationship when the chips were really down. Family was family.

It seemed to be doing Demon a lot of good, too. He was bouncing on his toes excitedly, watching as Angel took a threatening stride towards Riley. Safeties clicked off five rifles. William was clutching her hand again, his face unreadable. Demon would run into the fray to help his grandsire, but Buffy was fairly sure William wouldn’t feel so charitable. She was somewhere in the middle. Maybe she could lock Riley and Angel is a room together and let them fight it out while she did naughty things with William and Demon in a completely different building. Very naughty things that should involve…wait, she was supposed to be paying attention. 

Angel was continuing to glower at Riley. His soldiers still had their guns aimed at Angel but had retreated a few paces, leaving Riley standing by himself. “Hey, Ri,” the bravest among the squad said, “I don’t know what kind of deep shit you’ve gotten us into, but I left my hip-waders with my other fatigues. Maybe we should just call it a day and bug out?” There was a chorus of assent from the other commandos.

“So then I went all dark and almost destroyed the wor…” Willow’s voice echoed loudly throughout the warehouse floor as she walked out of a corridor on the far side of the large room with Wesley. She gasped. “What is going on? Riley?” He waved weakly at her. “And guns? Why are there guns? I don’t like guns! No guns!”

Buffy winced as Willow’s eyes shone black for a second. The soldiers’ rifles were yanked out of their hands and crunched into useless junk before clattering to the cement.

The stunned soldiers stood gaping at the exhausted-looking Willow. She turned to Wesley. “Sleepy now. Don’t let the tadpoles bite.” She pitched forward against him and he slowly lowered her to the floor.

“How about we go our separate ways and act like this all did not just happen?” Gunn put a hand on Angel’s shoulder and the vampire relaxed, his human mask slipping back into place.

Riley took a deep breath and choked slightly on the fishy smell of the warehouse. “Yeah, sure.” He coughed. “Thanks for taking out this nest.” He made a circling motion with his hand and the other soldiers picked up their mangled weapons and regrouped around him, talking in low voices.

Buffy, one hand firmly gripping Demon’s arm, and the other still around William, urged both her boys to head towards the hallway that led back to the van. The others were already standing there, Angel now carrying the unconscious Willow.

When they walked by the group of soldiers, Riley broke away and jogged over to her. Demon tensed, tight as a coiled spring under her hand.

“That’s his ex. I think she’s a Slayer,” one of the solders hissed to the others.

“If she’s a Slayer why’s she hanging with vamps?” another one asked. The first one shrugged.

Riley shook his hair out of his face. “Buffy, I-“

“No,” she said, wearily. “I’m not dealing with you. I’ve got enough on my plate.”

Riley looked crestfallen. “I just wanted to invite you to dinner with me and Sam. We could sit down and talk.” His eyes darted to William, lingering on how she had an arm around him. “You, uh, could bring-“

“Not now. I’m busy.” She interrupted. Riley just didn’t know when to quit. Except when he did, in the middle of fights against hell gods or when her mom seriously ill. Or when he showed up in order to cast judgment on her life and make her doubt her entire existence. Okay, now she felt like punching him in the nose. William shifted against her, obviously picking up on her anger.

Riley made puppy-dog eyes and tried again. “Buffy-“

Demon attempted to shrug her hand off but to her surprise it was William who stepped forward. He jabbed a finger towards Riley’s chest.

“The girl has made her desires expressly clear and I highly suggest you do not press the matter further. You’re an overgrown bully who believes the entire world should simply fall complacently at his over-privileged feet because such is your whim. You pretend to have achieved a moral high ground while simultaneously disparaging those less fortunate than yourself. When Buffy needed you at crucial junctures, when her mother passed, when she was forced to sacrifice her own being so that loathsome people such as yourself still had a world to exist in, you were off playing army and congratulating yourself on your own importance. When you left did you wait an entire fortnight before finding some new bird to stroke your ego? Then you return and wave the chit around in Buffy’s face while telling her that her own choices were incorrect because they were not blessed by your sanctimonious self? Then you abandon her once again? You…you…bloody tosser!”

William was taking in air in large gasps, outrage evident in every line of his body.  

“You done?” Buffy asked him with a smile. She was surprised at, and more than a little proud of, his outburst.  

Riley’s face was screwed up in confusion as his eyes darted between William and Demon.

“No.” William grabbed her around the waist and shoulders and bent her backwards, kissing her soundly as a couple of the soldiers let out whoops. She was breathless when William set her back on her feet. “Now I’m done.” With a final glare at Riley he strode toward the spot where Angel and the others were waiting.

Demon slid his arm around her shoulders.

“Uh.” A still befuddled Riley rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “What…”

“Spike got split,” Buffy said with a shrug. “The answers to your questions are: I don’t know, and yes.”

“Okay.” Riley paused for a second before a blush crept up his throat. “So what do we do now?”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “There is no ‘we’, Riley.”

“And…you?” Riley glared at Demon, who grinned before using the fingers of his free hand to brush imaginary dirt off his cheeks, chin and mouth. Riley’s forehead wrinkled in obvious confusion.

She closed her eyes for a second. “C’mon, you.” She tugged at Demon’s arm. “Before I decide to be mad about that.” As she walked with Demon across the warehouse floor she could hear the soldiers speaking to each other.

“Riley, dude, you totally got told off in British.”

“Yeah, thanks, I noticed.” Riley grumbled. There was a pause. “What was the face thing? Was that some Brit insult or something?”

“Seriously, Ri? You really did grow up in an Iowa barn. You’ve never seen a guy clean off a place for a girl to sit down before?”

“I…oh.”

“Man, she must be hella kinky to let all those fangs near her…”

‘”Shut up. Just. Shut. Up.”

****

The van’s engine roared to life as Gunn turned the key. He pulled away from the curb and an uneasy silence descended on the passengers. Willow was still unconscious in the backseat, her head pillowed on Wes’ leg. Buffy was curled up between Demon and William, her head on William’s shoulder. Angel was in the front passenger seat, staring out the side window with his forehead pressed against it. Rain had begun to fall in a soft mist.

When they left the waterfront warehouses behind, Gunn’s fist smashed down on the steering wheel. “Angel, what the hell was that?”

Angel jumped and bumped his head on the window. “What do you mean? We cleared out a…large nest of vicious demons.”

“That’s correct,” Wesley said. “However, the nest was a great deal larger than you had led us to expect and, I might add, an armed militia showed up at the end.”

“Commandos.” Buffy’s voice was quiet. “Government operatives trying to do what Slayers have always done. So what were they doing there, Angel? Why did I get to relive happy fun times with Riley?”

“I didn’t know he was going to be there, Buffy. I didn’t want to see him any more than you.” Angel sighed. “I’d gotten intelligence from the branch of the military that houses the commandos and a request for assistance. Apparently, they didn’t know the extent of the problem they had. I’m sorry, guys. That was a little more than I was anticipating.”

“I could have told you not to trust them,” William grumbled. “You realize they may have been trying to get you and your team killed? The soldiers we saw could have been the mop up crew.”

“Yeah,” Angel said sullenly.

Buffy yawned. It’d been a long day—and night—and sleep was starting to sound good. “I, for one, am glad no one got seriously hurt. So what’s everyone’s kill numbers? I got twenty-one. Demon, the show off, got twenty-two.”

“A dozen.” Gunn chuckled. “It’s a little harder when you don’t have super powers.”

Wes looked bored. “Ten”

“Fifteen,” Angel mumbled, shooting Demon a dirty look.

“I got one!” William smiled brightly and his hand was suddenly on Buffy’s inner thigh. Apparently he was still pretty pleased with himself.

“Thirty!” Willow called, sitting bolt upright and making everyone jump. The van swerved a little and Gunn swore. “Sorry,” she said. “I just woke up.”

“You win, magic lady.” Buffy fist bumped her friend. “Thanks for the assist with the guns.”

“What was Riley doing there?” Willow asked.

“Ugh. Being a dumb ass.”

Demon huffed his agreement.

Buffy’s stomach picked that moment to growl loudly. Oh, right, she’d wanted a cheeseburger. Her stomach gurgled again and Demon reached forward to poke Gunn in the shoulder with a claw.

“What?” Gunn asked, glancing in the review mirror and doing a double take. “Damn, forgot the whole no reflection thing for a moment.” He rolled his shoulders. “That is never not going to be creepy.”

Demon made a rude gesture.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing just because I can’t see you,” Gunn chuckled. “And William, I can see what you’re doing.” William snatched his hand back from where it’d been stroking the inside seam of Buffy’s pants.

“Buffy’s hungry,” William said as he stuck his fingertips under his legs. “Actually, I’m hungry, too.”

“In-N-Out Burger?” Willow suggested.

“Oh, god, yes!” Buffy nearly moaned, which had William’s hand sneaking back onto her thigh. “I’ve been craving that for weeks.” Demon, noticing what William was up to, nonchalantly draped an arm around her shoulders so his hand was covering her breast. 

“It’s a plan then, I know where there’s one on the way back to the shop.” Gunn put the blinker on and merged into the far lane of traffic.

The interior of the van was mostly dark and as long as everyone wasn’t looking at them Buffy decided a little casual molestation on her boys’ parts wasn’t that big a deal. She tugged her jacket out from under her and spread it over herself like she was cold. William did the same, though his only covered his lap. She figured that so long as the touching remained over clothing, she’d let them get away with it. Her own fingers soon got twitchy and she started making little circles with one hand on William’s thigh.

 It wasn’t long before Demon’s cold fingers were somehow inside her bra and pinching her nipple while William dug his knuckle into the fabric covering her clit. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted back to rest on the seat. Her hand was massaging William’s rapidly hardening cock through his pants. Buffy knew she wasn’t supposed to make any noise but she was having trouble remembering why.

Her hips rolled against William’s fingers. Demon huffed and his hand grew still on her breast. That wasn’t cool. She jutted her chest forward. He made another indignant noise and picked her hand up from where it was sitting uselessly on her own thigh, placing it on the hardness in his jeans.

Oh, of course! She’d been being rude. To make up for lost time, she firmly stroked his shaft  through the denim.

“Uh, Buffy, we’re here,” Willow said into her ear.

Buffy yelped and quickly clasped her hands together over her lap. William was blinking and clutching at his coat to keep it in place.  On the other side of her, Demon reluctantly drew his fingers out from under her shirt and lounged back against the seat, completely unperturbed by the fact that everyone in the van would be able to see his arousal if they looked. With a resigned sigh, Buffy took her jacket off her lap and dropped it onto Demon’s. He smirked at her but didn’t try to move it. The rest of the van’s occupants were busy looking at the restaurant’s drive-thru menu and pretending that nothing at all had been going on, for which Buffy was grateful.

Not that she actually felt that bad about it. It’d been only a few days since she’d found out the love of her life wasn’t a pile of dust. She was entitled to get carried away a time or two. Or ten. She wondered what Angel would do if she climbed on top of Demon in the van and they started going at it? Not that she would, but imaging Angel’s expression was highly entertaining.

Willow pulled out a notepad and pencil and everyone wrote down their orders while they waited in the drive-through line. The total made Buffy happy that Wolfram and Hart were paying.

Once they got their order, Gunn parked the van and the food was divvied up. Buffy was starving and wolfed down her burger while William made a show of arranging a napkin just so on his knee and carefully wrapping another around the burger itself. Demon was contentedly munching on a bag of fries. Occasionally he reached over and dipped a few into the chocolate shake Buffy had resting between her knees when she wasn’t taking a sip.

“That is so disgusting,” Angel said, catching Demon mid-dip. Demon looked heavenward and stuffed the fries in his mouth.

“It’s delicious,” Buffy mumbled around a mouthful of burger. She swallowed. As fun as it was to imagine pissing him off, Angel did deserve some respect for how he’d acted back in the warehouse.  “Hey, Angel, thanks for earlier.”

“For what?” he grumbled.

Buffy gave him a tentative smile. “For defending Spike when you found out Riley had staked him.”

“I can’t believe that jerk did that.” Angel’s eyes closed for a second and it looked like he was pushing down a whole wealth of emotions. “Spike.” He paused and both Demon and William froze mid-bite. “I don’t like you. I really don’t understand why Buffy likes you so much, but you are family. If Riley says or does anything to threaten you, you let me know.”

“Thanks, mate,” William said.

Demon glanced down at his fries and held them out to Angel.

“I don’t really…” Angel put up a hand to wave away the offering.

“Oh, come off it,” Buffy groaned. “We all know you’re special, but In-N-Out has really good fries. Just try them.”

Looking resigned, Angel grabbed the bag and shoved a few in his mouth. Then a few more.

“What do you think, boss?” Gunn was chuckling.

Angel had a confused look on his face. “Actually they’re kind of…not bad.” He swallowed. “Can I try them with the shake?”


	10. Dialing

Please allow me to introduce myself

                -The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”

****

Buffy stood rooted to the carpet. William was already across the room, speaking to Wesley about something the latter had found in one of the many books that cluttered every surface of the office. Whenever she tried to make her feet move her stomach dropped through the floor. Glancing over at her, William smiled warmly but made a shooing motion with his hand before returning to the book Wesley was holding. At her elbow, Demon tugged on her sleeve. Buffy took a step backwards and panic moved through her in a wave.

She just couldn’t. This wasn’t like William being a few steps away while she was in the bathroom. There would be multiple walls and maybe even floors between them. What if he needed help? What if something bad happened and she wasn’t there to make sure he was okay? What if he just plain needed her and she wasn’t around?

Willow’s kind eyes met hers. Her friend came over and gave her a quick hug. “He’ll be okay. We’ll take good care of him. I personally promise to make sure he remembers to eat lunch, and dinner if we’re here that long.”

Buffy tried to smile.

Willow patted her arm and dropped her voice. “Angel probably won’t bother coming down here and you know I’m capable of handling him, no matter what. There’s even an Orb of Thesulah on a shelf over there.” Willow’s eyes darted up and to the side for a second and Buffy could see a glass ball peeking out of a box that was resting in between two stacks of books. “So even if the worst happens, we’re covered.”

“Okay.” Buffy managed a very small smile for her friend. “It’s just…leaving…”

“You’re not leaving him alone.” The sympathy on Willow’s face tore her up inside. Buffy hated to have her fear be so obvious, but was relieved Willow understood. “There are phones, an overhead paging system, and I’m a cool witch that can talk telepathically with you if I need to. Call us if you get worried.”

Buffy bit her lip. “I’m already worried.”

Willow laughed softly. “I noticed, but I promise he’ll be fine and busy while you go talk to the other Wolfram and Hart people to see if they have any info on this Thing of Doom.”

“Yeah.” Buffy took a step back. “If he needs anything…”

“I’ll let you know immediately.”

Buffy backed up until she bumped into Demon, who immediately put an arm around her. He patted her arm reassuringly as they turned and walked down the corridor. Despite the comfort she couldn’t stop the worry gnawing at the edges of her mind. She wondered if she’d ever be okay with Spike being more than a few steps from her. Honestly? Probably not. But this wasn’t about her, it was about what William needed, which was to be valued for himself and what he could contribute. She could give him that. So often Spike had been something for her to use as she saw fit, and he’d be the first one to say he was just fine with that. But he shouldn’t have to be. Buffy wanted to show him she could love him without being selfish.

She knew this being split thing wouldn’t last forever. Fred had even called that morning asking how Demon and William were doing. So far there didn’t seem to be any problems with either half. No molecular-jello threats like when she’d been invisible. But someday soon Spike would be back to being Spike, and she was hoping that this time they’d been given—by whomever for whatever reason—would go a long way towards making him understand that she loved all of who he was, both man and demon.

At the end of the corridor she paused and turned to look back at Wesley’s open office door. She had to swallow the urge to ran back and tackle William.

Why did doing the right thing always have to be so danged hard?

****

The top of his desk was neat as a pin. The inside of his head less so. Angel scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d been lucky no one had gotten hurt last night. There’d been so many more of those scaly horrors than he’d initially thought. When he’d contacted the government outfit, looking for something tangible to fight that would act as a pretend harbinger of the supposed Thing of Doom, nearly a hundred flesh eating fish-men had not been what he’d been imagining.

The whole night hadn’t been what he’d been imagining.

For one, he’d wanted to be in and out before the commandos had shown up, but he hadn’t counted on Willow and Wes wandering around the factory for ages while she filled the ex-Watcher in on the last half decade of her, Xander, Buffy, and Spike’s lives. And he really hadn’t expected Buffy to end up in a closet playing porn star with both halves of Spike.

And while Angel had known the government commandos were going to show up sooner or later, Riley being there as part of the unit had really thrown him for a loop. Angel sighed. He knew Riley had broken Buffy’s heart, though the details of the farm boy leaving her were hazy in his mind. There probably hadn’t been any good reasons for Riley to hurt her, anyway. Spike might not be the normal Buffy deserved, but at least the pest was family and was so devoted to her he’d given his life so she’d have a world to live in.

Angel shifted in his chair, acutely aware that walking away from someone, while noble, was not the same thing as burning to death so that the woman you loved could go on existing. Half-forgotten Joseph Campbell lectures about things like sacrifice and bliss ran through his mind.

He felt a little crazy.

 _She is yours._ Angelus’ voice whispered from within its cage. _A gift. A promise. Let me free and I’ll make sure she’ll never think of anyone but us ever again._ Angelus showed him the image of Spike’s demon in the van taking Buffy’s hand and settling it on his crotch and Buffy, instead of slapping him like he deserved, rubbing him through his jeans. The scene shifted and now Angel was alone with Buffy in the van and it was his arousal her hand was toying with. Smiling, her face shifted to vampiric bumps and fangs as she straddled his lap.

_“What do you wish me to do, Sire…”_

Angel pressed the heels of his hands against his temples and mentally shoved the demon back down.

But something lingered. The desire to show his upstart grandchilde that Angel was still better than him. Would always be better than him.

If Buffy returned to his side when she saw Spike for the delusional fool that he was, it would make the victory that much sweeter.

Angel swiped a hand through his hair. He needed to be more careful. No more mistakes like putting his team in danger due to faulty intelligence.

Nina’s voice in the lobby startled him. He’d forgotten she was supposed to stop by. He looked out his open office door just in time to see her literally collide with Buffy. Nina flinched, probably from her inner wolf recognizing just how powerful a Slayer Buffy was.

Angel focused his senses so he could hear the two girls.

“Hi! Sorry! That was totally my fault; my head is someplace else today.” Buffy smiled. The demon half of Spike had caught her elbow to steady her and was scowling at Nina. The other half, the boy, was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s okay.” Nina was brushing imaginary dirt off her jeans.

“Do you work here?” Buffy asked.

A sense of dread washed over Angel. This wasn’t going to be good.

“No.” Nina pressed her lips into a thin line. “I’m Nina.”

Buffy’s face screwed up, obviously trying to place her.

“Y’know,” Nina continued. “Angel’s girlfriend?”

A hole did not conveniently open under Angel’s feet and swallow him completely. This was bad, very bad. And, hey, was Nina his girlfriend? Had they ever really discussed it? Buffy was going to be furious.

Only instead of appearing upset, Buffy perked right up. “Really? I haven’t been in town long and he hasn’t said anything about you, but it’s kind of like him to keep his cards close to his chest.”

Nina’s face fell and Angel winced. “And who might you be?”

“I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” Spike’s demon poked Buffy in the back. “Spike’s girlfriend,” she added while rolling her eyes, but her voice was warm. The demon puffed its chest out in pride. For a long second Angel imagined it being the other way around. That he was the one Buffy sounded so fond of. He almost missed the color draining from Nina’s face.

 _Oh, why do you want the bit of fluff, anyway?_ The fully human side of Angel piped up. _You’ve never been one to go back for leftovers. Though it seems she might have learned a thing or two since her maiden voyage. She could be right great at fornicating now._

I want her because I love her, Angel insisted to himself. Both Liam and Angelus scoffed.

_Be worth it to know how hard a Slayer can take it up-_

“Shut it,” Angel mumbled.

“What?” came Nina’s clipped voice from the doorway. She did not look happy.

Angel pasted on a smile. “Hi, Nina!”

“So, it seems you forgot to call and tell me your scary Slayer ex-girlfriend was in town. Plus, you managed to not tell her I even existed.” Nina’s eyes bored into him and she crossed her arms.

“Uh, sorry?” He made his best puppy dog eyes at her and she relaxed a fraction.

“Do you at least have a good excuse?”

“Well, it’s been kind of crazy around here…”

“And wait a minute, since when is Buffy Spike’s girlfriend? Don’t tell me she’s the girl he’s been moping about for months.”

“Uh…”

Nina looked heavenward. “Did you even tell her he was here?”

“He was a ghost!”

“Looks like not so much anymore.”

Angel groaned. “That’s been a part of the craziness. What you saw with Buffy is only half of him. He’s corporeal, but he got split into a human and a demon in the process.”

Nina’s face turned speculative.

“Please.” Angel’s eyebrows shot up. “Please don’t do the math on that.”

With a chuckle, Nina shook her head. “Look, vampire, how about you buy me lunch and I decide whether or not I’m going to be mad about you not telling your ex about me?”

“That, I think I can handle.”

****

Demon knocked on yet another office door. Buffy felt like she’d spoken to nearly every employee at Wolfram and Hart. More than half of them had been demons and she was strung out from having to repress her Slayer senses. Going to the cafeteria to get her a sandwich and Demon a couple pints of otter had made her teeth itch from the concentration of supernatural creatures.

“Come in!”  a pleasant voice sing-songed from the interior. With a flourish, Demon ushered her into a well-appointed office.  Buffy’s eyes settled on the office’s occupant and stopped dead. He was green. With horns. Granted they were little, not-scary ones, but they were still horns. The demon’s eyes lit up. “Well, look what the cat dragged in!”

Demon waved at the green demon before flopping onto one of the plush couches in the office and picking up a copy of People magazine to leaf through.

“You must be the much talked about Buffy Summers! This is fabulous!” The green demon, who was impeccably dressed in a light blue suit with a pink ruffled shirt, jumped to his feet and walked around the edge of his desk, hand outstretched. Buffy took it and the demon warmly engulfed her hand in both of his. “My name is Lorne and it is so nice to finally meet you. For the past few months Handsome over there has barely been able to keep his trap closed about you.”

Lorne calling Demon—with his vampire ridges—handsome made Buffy’s insides go mushy. She just knew that she and the green demon were going to get along like houses on fire. Her wide smile was genuine and for the first time that day she felt some of the tension in her spine ease. She laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, Lorne. Should I get the obligatory questions out of the way first?”

“Shoot, shortbread.” Lorne crossed his arms and leaned a hip against his desk.

“Do you know anything about the Thing of Doom rumored to be rising soon in Los Angeles? Or do you have any knowledge of why the government has commandos stationed here?”

“That’s a big fat no on both of those. Though I should warn you I run the entertainment division and most of the clients I deal with couldn’t see past the end of their own noses if you gave them a map and a Sherpa. We could try looking it up on the internet?”

Buffy frowned. Why hadn’t Willow thought of that? “Sure. We haven’t tried that one yet, that I know of.”

Lorne dragged a chair over to his desk for her to sit in and he started with a simple Yahoo search on his laptop. “Hmm, says Thing of Doom is a club in New York.”

Demon grunted and tossed the magazine he’d been looking at to the side.

Buffy snorted. “Don’t even start. I know it can never be as good as those bad-ass places you hung out in during the seventies.” Lorne was staring at her. “What?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious.

“You understood him?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s Spike, what else would he be grumping about on the topic of night clubs in New York?”

Lorne shook his head. “I’ve seen couples that’ve been together for centuries that don’t know each other that well.”

“Huh.” Buffy shrugged. “It’s just Spike. He’s kind of transparent.” She peeked at him over the top of the computer. He was glaring at her from where he was sitting on the couch so she stuck her tongue out at him. He smirked and in retaliation did the tongue behind the fangs thingy that instantly had her squirming in her chair. With a wistful look she conceded the battle. He’d definitely won.

Lorne touched the back of her hand and his voice was very low when he spoke. “Sugar snap, I really don’t think that boy has any clue just how much you love him.”

“And you do?” Buffy huffed.

“Empath.”

“Oh…sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m not.”

She smiled and Lorne returned to scrolling through web pages, searching for anything related to a scary post-millennial demon. It all looked like a bunch of meaningless nonsense to Buffy until she spied an ad for…

”Look at that!” she squealed.

“What?” Lorne jumped in his seat.

She pointed to the ad.

“Oh my…are those pumps really half off?” Lorne clicked on the banner and Buffy knew her instincts about him had been spot on.

She remembered about an hour and five web sites later that they were supposed to be doing research, but by that time she was enjoying Lorne’s company so much that she really didn’t care. It was more likely William, Wes, and Willow would find something important, anyway. Lorne seemed to know all the designers personally and had an opinion on everything. They’d left sales behind a while ago and were looking at the latest high-fashion trends.

Demon had napped for a bit, but was now up and poking around Lorne’s office.

“What’s he doing?” Lorne stage-whispered to Buffy as Demon pulled down a vase from a high shelf and looked inside. Finding nothing, he set it haphazardly on an end table.

“Probably hunting for chocolate. Ooo…look at the straps on that one.” She pointed to an elegant pair.

“Totally impractical, I don’t know what the designer was thinking. No matter how graceful you are, that buckle would make you stumble like a drunk octopus.” Lorne eyed Demon. “Try the box next to the couch,” he said to the vamp.

Demon immediately picked up the polished wooden box and opened the lid. With a happy noise he scooped up a handful of silver foil-wrapped Hershey’s kisses and brought them to Buffy.

She piled them on the desk and unwrapped one to pop in her mouth. Demon leaned over her shoulder and rubbed his cheek against hers.

Buffy was continuing to scroll through the page when Demon’s hand shot out and he tapped on the screen with a claw. It was a pair of red stilettoes which consisted almost entirely of a series of very complicated crisscrossing straps. Damn, he was right. Her feet would look amazing in them. Too bad they cost a small fortune.

“Like those, eh?” Lorne chuckled.

Demon tapped more emphatically. Buffy snorted. “They’re almost four grand. I don’t think so.”

Lorne leaned back in his chair. “Why not?”

Demon tapped the screen again.

“Because they’re stupidly expensive.” She sighed. They really were the best pair of fuck-me shoes she’d ever seen. Her face flushed a little from the unspoken curse word, along with all the mental pictures it gave her. Demon poked her in the shoulder and gave her a knowing leer.

Lorne was grinning. “I do believe Wolfram and Hart would be footing the bill, so to speak. Not to mention the genius that came up with that bit of frippery owes us not one, but two favors. He really needs to stay away from crossroads. So tell Lorne what size you wear and they’ll be here in less than an hour.”

“Uh…when you put it like that…” She’d run out of arguments and truthfully she really would, just once, like to own something that nice. And they matched her Scythe.

“Consider it a thank you gift to your boys for saving this here little place I like to call Earth.”

Demon clapped Lorne on the shoulder and Buffy’s face turned an even brighter shade of red. Though she certainly wasn’t going to start complaining if Lorne wanted to reward Spike by buying her shoes. Demon unwrapped another one of the chocolates and she obediently opened her mouth so he could put it on her tongue. Purring, he did so before gently running his claws through her long hair.

With a twinkle in his eye, Lorne snapped open his cell phone and started dialing.


	11. Blame Me

All I want is for you to make love to me

                -The Rolling Stones, “Beast of Burden”

****

The courier wasn’t human, so Buffy had no problem nearly knocking him over as she grabbed the package out of his hands.

“Uh, you’ve got to sign.” The guy waved a clipboard at her.

Ignoring him, Buffy sat down on the floor of the lobby and began tearing though the brown paper. Demon crouched beside her. When the tape proved stubborn he used his claws to get it open.

Lorne motioned the courier over, who’d stopped trying to get Buffy to sign after Demon had snarled at him. Once the paperwork was done and the terrified courier sent on his way, Lorne leaned against the wall to watch her open the rest of the package.

Carefully, she set aside the bubble wrap, took a deep breath, and opened the lid of the box. The shoes were magnificent, with their blood-red leather and gold trim. Demon held out his hands and she gave him the box. He cooed over them for a second, then gestured at her feet. Eagerly, she scooted around so they were positioned in his lap. He pulled one of her tennis shoes off and tossed it over his shoulder. An elderly demon had to duck to keep from getting hit and Buffy covered her mouth to hide her giggle.

The other shoe followed, but was less of a hazard as everyone had figured out to give the vampire and Slayer a wide berth. Demon yanked her socks off at the same time, then with great care he lifted one of the stilettoes out of the box and slipped it on her foot. He repeated the process and set her feet back in his lap. Even Buffy was startled by how amazingly sexy her feet and ankles looked. She stretched forward and did up the buckles.  Demon was simply staring down at her feet.

Lorne touched her shoulder and she looked up at him. “Would you two lovebirds like to go get a bite to eat? The sun just went down and there’s a place across the street that serves both a mean filet mignon and a mug of whatever animal blood you can imagine.” Buffy glanced at Demon, but he was still admiring her feet.  “You can show off the fabulous new footwear,” Lorne cajoled. It was tempting. She was hungry and it wasn’t very far away, William had been fine all day, and she was wearing a once in a lifetime pair of pumps…

She gave in. “That sounds awesome.” Buffy pushed slightly against the obvious bulge in the front of Demon’s jeans with one expensively clad toe, then pulled her legs under her and accepted Lorne’s hand to help her rise. Demon growled and immediately bounded upright to put an arm around her.

Using one of the phones at the front desk, Buffy called Wesley’s office. Willow picked up on the first ring. Buffy made doubly sure everything was still going okay, that William was doing fine, and she let them know she was going to dinner.

As they walked across the lobby to the exit she saw Nina. The other woman scowled at her. Buffy smiled back, not sure what the girl was mad about, and reached down to shove her hand into the back pocket of Demon’s jeans. Nina’s frown softened. Her eyes dipped down and Buffy saw the exact moment they landed on the shoes. Jealousy bloomed all over Nina’s face.

Buffy smirked. That’s right. She had the better boyfriend and the kick-ass pair of new shoes. Life was good.

****

Buffy had to admit that having a second margarita with dinner had not been her brightest move. Alcohol and she had never been the greatest combination and it’d been years since she’d been even this degree of tipsy.

She wasn’t slobbering drunk, but everything made her giggle and walking in her new stilettos was a heck of a challenge. Demon was always right beside her for support, but his hands kept ending up down her shirt or under her skirt. It was getting harder to push him away and tell him to wait. The booze was also making her miss William something fierce. She hoped the research session wasn’t going to turn into an all-nighter. She’d have to go and kidnap her guy back so she could do nefarious things with him. Buffy giggled.

In the elevator she gave up trying to keep Demon at bay and let him slip a finger, after he’d bitten off his claw, up inside her. He worked her slowly. Groaning, she clamped her inner walls tight around the intrusion and leaned back against the wall. When the doors opened Demon pulled out his finger and stuck it in his mouth, leaving her to scurry along behind him as he strode to their room.

Demon held the door for her as she tottered into the dark interior. Slamming the door shut, he immediate grabbed her and pushed her up against it. His tongue flicked over her neck. With a grunt, he helped her hike one leg up to hook around his hip. Buffy pressed the heel of her new shoe into the muscles of his ass as he ground himself against her aching core.

Buffy wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, teasing the fine hairs there with her nails. She pulled Demon into a kiss, hungrily sucking and nibbling at his lips and tongue. Turning her head to the side, she gasped for breath. An awareness prickled along her spine. They weren’t alone.

Buffy put her hands on Demon’s shoulders and gently pushed him back. “William?” she called. When she’d walked in and the room had been dark she’d assumed he hadn’t come home yet. No one answered.

Demon’s head was cocked to the side.  Carefully, he set her back on her feet and grabbed her hand to lead her towards the bed. William was there, laying on his stomach, fully dressed and sound asleep. His shoes were set neatly next to the bed and his glasses were on the nightstand.

Buffy was so relieved to see him she nearly fell over. Putting her finger to her lips to tell Demon to stay quiet, she quickly stripped off her clothes until she was standing in nothing but the red stilettos. Unable to contain herself any longer she squealed excitedly and jumped on the bed, landing with her knees on either side of William’s waist. He yelped and tried to sit up, but her strong hands kept him pinned.

“Buffy?” he asked.

“Where you expecting someone else?”

“The Queen of Sheba?”

“Hey!” She playfully swatted his behind. “Why are you asleep?”

“You weren’t here when I got home and after an hour of biding my time, waiting grew wearisome. I didn’t have any way to contact you, so I determined I’d simply engage in a nap until your return.”

She ran her hands over his back. “Sorry, dinner took way longer than I thought it would.”

The bed dipped as a now-naked Demon crawled in beside them. He lay down on his stomach as well, twittering softly as he reached a hand out to trace the contours of William’s face. Buffy giggled, then gasped and rubbed herself against William’s thigh when he sucked Demon’s finger into his mouth.

She pushed her hands between the bed and William’s hips and undid the fastenings of his pants. Tugging them and his underwear down to his knees she ran her tongue up the back of one knee and sank her teeth into the flesh of his ass.

“Buffy!” he squeaked.

“Missed you!” she said, still raining kisses over the soft skin of his backside. The tension from the day was bleeding away with every ragged breath and grunt from William as she continued to paw him. Demon was still running his hands over William, but had scooted closer and was kissing him as well. As much as Buffy hated to intrude, there were things she wanted to be doing. She tapped William’s shoulder and lifted her body off him. “Turn over,” she commanded.

William immediately obeyed. His cock was already hard and straining.  With a delighted cry she wrapped her hand around him. His shaft was warm and she could faintly feel his heartbeat in her palm. Bending over, she nuzzled the dark curls of his pubic hair, drinking in his scent.

“Miss Buffy…are you…smelling me?” William asked, sounding slightly dazed.

“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled against him. He smelled of sweat, musk, and Spike. She took another deep breath.

There was a pause. “Are you drunk?”

“Just a little,” she admitted. It was time for William to stop talking. She didn’t want to talk. Make noise, yes. Talk, not so much. Greedily, she sucked the head of his cock into her mouth. He tasted so good it made her moan. Her tongue darted into the slit at the top, seeking out as much of his flavor as she could get. The skin of his shaft was silky in her hand as she pumped him.

William’s groans of pleasure became muffled as Demon drew him into another deep kiss.

Demon had turned over as well and was lying hip to hip with William. Feeling like the luckiest girl either alive or undead, she fisted Demon’s erection and pumped him in rhythm with her other hand. Shifting so she was straddling one of William’s thighs and one of Demon’s, she swapped her mouth back and forth between their rigid lengths. She nibbled the underside of Demon’s cock and licked him in long strokes before switching to William and swirling her tongue languidly around the reddened head of his member.

Her eyes kept darting up to watch her boys kiss and touch each other.

When the empty, aching pulse grew too much for her to bear she straightened up and put her hands on her hips. Immediately, Demon was on his knees and pushing her down onto the mattress. She ended up on her back in between her guys. Demon bent over and kissed her softy, then tugged on William’s elbow until he rolled over and situated himself between her knees. William braced his hands beside her shoulders, but it was Demon’s hand that guided William’s cock into her slick channel. With a grunt, he sheathed himself fully inside her.

Buffy mewled and clamped her arms around his back and her legs around his hips. She crossed her ankles and felt Demon’s cold fingers trace over her feet.

“What’s he doing?” William asked between kisses.

“He likes how my feet look in the incredibly expensive pair of shoes he convinced me to buy.”

“Oh.” William’s eyes glazed over and his head dropped to rest on her shoulder as his hips plowed into her.

There was a tugging at the side of her head. Demon had moved so he was sitting right beside her, his hip almost touching her ear. His eyes were locked onto where she had her ankles crossed with her heels digging into William’s ass. With another tug, Demon freed a handful of her long hair from underneath her. He looped it around his cock and closed his hand over the strands. With a contented sigh he began stroking himself in time with William’s thrusts.

Buffy luxuriated in the sensation of being so very, very wanted. Her stomach tensed and her inner muscles clenched.

“Buffy,” William was murmuring. “My heart, my all. Come for me. Let me feel how much I please you. My darling, I love you. I need to feel you come.”

With a moan that ended in a near-sob she peaked with her back arching, hips bucking, and fingers gripping hard enough to leave bruises.

“Perfect, my love. Such a wonderful girl. You needed that.” William’s hips continued their movement. His cock slid in and out of her, hitting all the right places. She was so full of him. 

Demon’s hand sped up and he was panting.  The tug at her hair was erotic in its own right. It made her feel desired. When Demon’s hips lifted off the bed and he started to growl, William lunged forward and closed his mouth around the dark purple head of Demon’s cock. The sight of William swallowing as Demon came was almost more than Buffy could take. Her orgasm was a white hot bolt of lightning so intense that she howled.

William’s lips crashed into hers. Demon’s come was still on his tongue as he swirled it around her mouth. Buffy clutched at his head, moaning into his mouth as her tongue sought out every last drop.

Demon untangled the damp strands of her hair from around his cock and dropped them back on the pillow. He lay down and snuggled against her shoulder.

William’s back was slick with sweat under her palms. He was breathing hard and his hips had lost their rhythm. “Oh god,” he was chanting as he undulated against her. With a last, harsh cry he came, his cock jerking inside her as he flooded her tight channel with his seed.

When his body stopped bucking he collapsed beside her.

“Love you,” he said, even as his eyes sagged shut. Buffy chuckled to herself. Falling asleep right after sex, what a guy thing to do. Demon brought her hand to his chest and pressed it against his unbeating heart, making happy, contented noises deep in his throat.

Buffy relaxed onto the bed. “I love you too, Spike.”

Belatedly, she realized she still had her uber-expensive pumps on, but was too tired to try and undo the complicated straps at the moment. She could get them later. The arm Demon had around her waist became heavy as sleep claimed him as well. Yeah, she’d worry about the shoes much later.

****

Waking up had ceased to be terrible. After Sunnydale, mornings had become the time of day Buffy hated the most, because for one brief, shining moment she wouldn’t remember. In that moment her mom was downstairs making breakfast, Anya was unlocking The Magic Box with a bridal magazine tucked under her arm, Tara was waking up Willow with a kiss, and Spike was settling down to sleep in his crypt. It didn’t matter that she’d basically blown up the crypt and Spike had lived in her basement before the final battle against the First. In her Mayberry version of the world he still lived in his crypt, just waiting for her to show up so they could trade kisses or quips.

Buffy would try to make that moment go on and on, but eventually she’d have to open her eyes and face reality. She wasn’t in her soft bed at home with Mr. Gordo under her arm, instead she was in a cold, lonely bed in a drafty castle in Scotland. And Spike was dead, along with so many others. She almost never made it down for breakfast. Listening to that many teenage girls chew was usually more than she could take.

Now she didn’t need that moment anymore and she could rush right past it. The sheets around her, with their absurdly high thread count, were soft as a cloud. She stretched her arms out, reaching for her guys.

Her hands only met empty air.

That wasn’t right. Reason abandoned her in the face of blind panic. She was alone. The sheets went from comfortable to confining. Her legs were tangled up and she couldn’t sit up. Oh no…no…she was alone. It’d been a dream, there was no Demon, no William, just Buffy and her delusional brain.

Fighting to get out of the bedclothes, she rolled over and fell out of the bed with a shriek. On the floor she curled up, the tears coming fast and hard. Alone…alone…

A pair of strong arms scooped her up and she found herself back on the bed, cradled against Demon’s cool chest. He was whimpering and hugging her tight. The bed dipped and William’s warm hand was on her shoulder.

“Miss Buffy, dear me, are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“N-n-o. I’m not hurt.” She twisted in Demon’s arms so she could see William’s concerned face. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “Can you hold me, too?”

“Of course.”

Both men shifted, ending up sitting side-by-side but facing opposite directions with Buffy’s huddled form sandwiched in between them. Buffy wiped her tears on William’s shirt. She wasn’t surprised at all that he was dressed, or that Demon was still completely naked.

“Better?” William asked. Buffy nodded. “Can you tell us what happened? You scared me half to death. One second you were fast asleep and the next you were screaming and sobbing on the floor.”

Demon whined plaintively, his claws pinching where they dug into her. The pain was a welcome anchor to reality. Her boys were here, they were together, everything was okay.

“I woke up and…I was alone.”

William’s face paled and Demon clutched her tighter.

“Oh, no! William, no…I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” William swallowed hard. “It was us that left you by yourself-“

“I’m sorry because I shouldn’t be such a freakazoid. For a minute I thought I must have dreamed you two up, that…and it’s not right. You died so I could live and I was doing a pretty poor job of it.”

“Don’t say that.” William’s eyes avoided hers and instead went to her feet that were still encased in the ridiculous red shoes. With one hand he started undoing the straps. “You said it yourself, you lost a lot, it’s okay to grieve. Eventually things would have started to get better.”

Buffy swallowed the lump in her throat. Once William got the buckles undone on one shoe Demon carefully slid it off. The tight straps had left behind red marks that looked worse than they felt, but were in no hurry to fade away. “I really missed you,” she said quietly.

William finished with the second shoe and Demon removed it and dropped it beside the bed next to the first. Tenderly, William brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m terribly afraid you’re stuck with me now, Miss.” Demon rested his head on her shoulder.

“I’m good with the being stuck. I’m sure I can make do.”

William smiled and kissed her forehead. The tension bled out of her, leaving her completely supported by William and Demon.

“So,” she said after a minute. “I have to ask, what were you two up to?”

“Demon had an idea, a good one.”

Demon huffed and rolled his eyes, because obviously he only came up with brilliant ideas. Buffy giggled and lightly scratched at his chest.  

“We were working out the details. Can I tell her?” William raised an eyebrow at Demon and the vampire nodded.

“See, the thing is, we know that this can’t go on forever.”

“It can’t?” Buffy’s mind raced. Two seconds ago she was stuck with them, but now being stuck had a time limit? Her whole body tensed, she wasn’t ready to hear anything about all of them not being together. Especially if it was for her own good.

William’s face fell. “You have to know I…we…Demon and I can’t be separate forever, right?”

Oh. Okay. That she could deal with. She collapsed against William’s warm chest. “Right. Actually, I’m counting on it. I love you both very much, but I’ll be happy to have you back as the guy that’s been haunting my dreams for months. Plus, I miss all the cute little pet names.”

“You hate the pet names.”

“I do not.”

Demon poked William in the shoulder with a claw. William pushed the hand away and rubbed at the site. “We’ll contest that subject later, but for now let me tell you our plan.” She nodded and he continued. “As this strange situation I…we find ourselves in is most likely transient, Demon thought it’d be nice if each of us got a little time to spend with you and court you as we see fit.”

“You both want to take me on dates?” Buffy grinned. “That’s amazing, I so want- Hold up, what is the other one going to be doing while one of you is with me?”

William shrugged. “I’ll return to helping with research and Demon can annoy Angel. I promise we’ll behave ourselves when not in your presence.”

“Ha! A likely story.” She sighed. “What about the Doom thingy?”

“As of yet it seems to not be a pressing issue. Of course, should the creature that Angel read the prophecy about make itself known, we’d have to immediately render assistance, but I think that such will be unlikely.”

“Maybe I’ll just let it eat Angel, since he didn’t call and tell me about you.”

“You don’t mean that.” William sounded stern, but the corners of his mouth were turned up. Demon chuckled gleefully.

“Probably not, but who could blame me?”


	12. Miss Buffy

He came on a summer's day

-Looking Glass, “Brandy”

****

Buffy knew she was hovering, but she couldn’t help it. She was going to miss Demon while she was out, no matter how much fun she was having with William. Buffy had put a set of clothes on top of the dresser and had sternly warned Demon that he better wear them if he left the room. Currently naked and looking cranky, Demon was tussling with the comforter and pillows on the bed to make something that resembled a nest.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Buffy asked William.

“He’ll be fine. Stop fussing like a mother hen.” William picked up her hand and grazed her knuckles with his lips. She was dressed in a simple white sundress with her hair cascading loose around her shoulders. Since they were going to the beach she’d opted for flats that were easy to take on and off. William’s outfit—tan khakis and a blue button down—had met her approval until she’d looked at his feet and realized he had black socks on under his sandals. With the fashion emergency averted, and a liberal amount of sunblock coating every centimeter of William’s exposed skin, they were ready to go.

Demon huffed and sat down heavily on the end of the bed. Buffy walked over and put both her hands on his shoulders. “I’ll see you this afternoon, alright?” Demon hugged her tight around her middle and snuggled against her chest. To her surprise, William came up behind her and put a hand on her cheek, turning her head so he could capture her lips in a searing kiss. She felt herself melting as William’s warm mouth devoured hers. Demon’s hands ran up the inside of her legs, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

With a moan, she rocked against Demon’s fingers as he pressed the fabric of her panties up against her sopping center. William’s tongue was in her mouth, playfully curling around her own. Demon brushed her clit, making her hips jerk, as he pulled his hand from between her thighs and threaded his fingers under the waistband of her lacey white underwear. Growling, he yanked them down until they caught around her knees.

Buffy squealed as William broke their kiss, clamped his arms around her, and lifted her into the air so that Demon could pull her undies all the way off. William spun around and set her back on her feet. He patted her on the behind. “Time to be off.”

“Did you just help him steal my panties?”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean, Miss.” With a wink, William strode past her and out of the suite. Sputtering, Buffy turned around to look at Demon, but he’d already burrowed under the blankets with his prize. She threw up her hands and followed William out the door.

****

In the Wolfram and Hart garage Buffy picked out a black, sporty looking car to drive to the beach in. Buffy had offered, but William assured her he had all of Spike’s knowledge, both on how to operate a motor vehicle and on how well Buffy could drive.

She decided an argument was useless, mostly because she did want to get where they were going in one piece.

“Why this one?” William said, running his hand over the car’s shiny black paint.

“I don’t know, it just looks like something…Spike would pick. And why did you even ask me? Take whichever one you want.”

“I think the Viper will do.”

William drove like someone’s ninety-year-old grandma. It made the sports car a bit of a waste. She should have pointed him towards the minivan. 

In the parking lot of the beach, which wasn’t crowded this time of year, William found a spot entirely shaded by a building. They got out and William stayed plastered against the side of the Viper. Buffy walked out into the sun, turning her face up towards it. The cool ocean air smelled fresh and briny. She slipped on a light jacket to keep the chill away.

She turned around to see William still standing in the shadows. Her heart broke a little at the sight. He’d spent more than a century in the dark with the sun lost to him. She could understand his fear. With a smile, she raised her hand towards him. William swallowed hard. Slowly he reached towards her, flinching when the sunlight struck his skin. But nothing happened. Eyes wide, he took one step after another until his hand met hers and he was standing entirely in the sun. Buffy took his other hand in hers and silently stood with him as tears coursed down his cheeks.

“You look so beautiful in the sun. I always knew you would,” he whispered.

“Thank you.” She smiled shyly at him. He looked good too, the sunlight picking out highlights in his sandy-brown curls. Though he was terribly pale.It was probably a good thing it was too cold for shorts or he might have blinded someone.

Hand in hand, they walked down the nearly deserted beach towards where the waves were lazily lapping at the shore. William pointed out the restaurant where they were going to have brunch and they ambled in that direction.

Buffy couldn’t keep her eyes off the man beside her. He, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his eyes on any one thing for more than a few seconds. His gaze jumped from her, to the ocean, to the birds flying overhead, to the houses along the shore, and then repeated the process all over again.

At last he paused and turned to look out to sea. The wind mussed his hair and lifted the collar of his coat.

“It’s so blue.” William’s hand squeezed hers.

“Did you forget, old man?” she teased.

“I never saw it. We didn’t have the kind of money that’d allow my family to go on holiday to the seaside.”

Buffy blinked, a little stunned. Spike had never seen the ocean during the daytime? That made her feel odd. He was the guy that’d done everything and been everywhere. She’d always kind of liked that, because she was the girl who until very recently had been destined to slay demons on the hellmouth, a vocation that didn’t involve a lot of leisure travel. Knowing that Spike had seen the world and still loved her had made it okay that she wouldn’t get to do the same. He’d already done it for her.

Now, just maybe, Spike could take her some of those places he had been.

“Hey, look!” William let go of her fingers and bent down to pick up a perfect sand dollar. He set it gently in her cupped hands.

Buffy grinned. “I’ve always wanted to find one!”

“I guess today’s your lucky day.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully wrapped the sand dollar before handing it back to Buffy so she could put it in her purse for safekeeping. She clutched her purse tightly against her. The sand dollar was something precious she could hold onto that’d forever remind her of this day.

The restaurant was just a little further up the beach. They chose a table outside that overlooked the water and ordered big plates of breakfast food.

While they were waiting, William took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her palm.

“So, what’s the future have in store for Buffy Summers?”

“I guess you don’t mean just for today?”

He shook his head side-to-side.

“I don’t really know. I haven’t had time to think past ‘Spike’s alive! Yay!’ yet.”

William blushed. “Will you go back to Scotland?” He was looking earnestly at her and she couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. In the sun they were an incredible shade of clear blue.

“Not unless you’re coming with me. And maybe not even then. I miss California. Being here makes me feel like I’m home. Do you think you could live in L.A.?”

“Doesn’t matter where we live. You’re my home.”

Buffy melted. When the food arrived she was surprised the waitress didn’t notice she was nothing more than a big pile of goo. Actually, the waitress seemed a little too concerned with William. The woman managed to leave right before Buffy decided that she might be able to get away with an ‘accidental’ fork stabbing. William seemed completely oblivious.

****

After they ate, William and she walked a little further down the beach before he pulled her inland. A couple of blocks from the shore he found what he was looking for: a wrought-iron door set in a stone wall. He stuffed a few wadded up bills into a box and pulled open the door, which creaked loudly on its hinges.

Inside the walls everything was a profusion of color. It was a botanical garden of sorts, though if there was an order to the plants Buffy couldn’t tell.

“How did you find out about this place?” she asked. “It’s stunning.”

“Willow told me about it yesterday. I think there’s a witchy component, which is why so much is blooming even though it’s winter.” He beckoned her further along the path. “She said there’s roses somewhere here.”

“What else did you guys talk about?”

“Besides research-related questions it was mostly Wesley being curious about Demon, or about being a vampire in general. There were a few enquiries about being split, most likely at the behest of Angel, but of course I have no idea how that event transpired. Eventually I told Wes to quit being nosy. I think he’s having a trying time with the fact that his assumptions about how being a vampire works were not correct.”

Buffy snickered. You could take the Watcher out of the Council, but…

Holy.

She’d been following William down a cobbled path crowded on both sides with rhododendrons and boxwood shrubs. They’d turned a corner and the garden had opened out into a clearing with a weeping willow tree in the middle and an overwhelming profusion of rose bushes, every one of which seemed to be in full bloom. The array of pinks, reds, crimsons, magentas, whites, and creams was dazzling. The scent hung in the air, passing by on a warm breeze that felt like a caress.

They both stripped their coats and hung them over a small wall. Grinning, William took her hand and led her into the riot of flowers.

“This is amazing,” Buffy said after a few minutes and dozens of different species of roses. “But I have to ask: why here, on your one day?”

William’s ears turned pink. He walked to a bench, a heavy cast-iron one that was painted white. Green cushions padded the seat. It was half hidden under the drooping fronds of the willow tree. With a sigh he sat down and Buffy curled up beside him. He lifted the hand he was holding and kissed her palm.

“Where I grew up…” he trailed off and Buffy waited. Picturing William as a baby, snuggled in his mother’s arms, made her feel all kinds of strange. Intellectually she knew Spike had been human once, that he’d been born, had gone to school, all the regular things, but she’d never really considered that his memories of that time were part of what made him who he was.

“I suppose there were a lot of roses in English gardens,” she said when he seemed too choked up to go on.

He nodded. “I miss them. Most flowers don’t bloom at night. And a picture isn’t the same thing.”

“No, it’s not.” She inhaled deeply. “And I… I didn’t even have a picture.”The few she’d had of him had been in her house, which had disappeared along with everything else that’d been part of Sunnydale. William’s face turned towards her, mouth open in shock.

She meant to say something about being so happy to be with him, to see and touch him, but his lips were so soft and inviting that she was helpless to do anything but sway towards him. Her hands tangled themselves in his hair and pulled his mouth to hers so she could kiss him. Groaning, he pressed his lips harder against hers. His arms wrapped around her as their tongues danced together.

He was so warm. Buffy pressed her hands to his chest so she could feel his heart beat. She needed to be closer to him. Pushing him back slightly, she straddled his waist before returning her hungry mouth to his. William moaned, the sound deep and needy, as she rocked her core against his erection.

“Wait,” he said, breathless. “We’re in the middle of a park. I’m not sure-“

Buffy put her finger on his lips to silence him. “We’re in the back corner, under a tree, of a place almost no one knows about. If someone sees us, then lucky them.And don’t tell me that back in the day no one ever got it on out in those rose-filled Victorian gardens.”

“Um, I’m sure…it was a mite more difficult with the cumbersome clothes at the time, or so I’d imagine. It’s not like I’d know, exactly…”

William gulped as Buffy raised her hands and undid the ties behind her neck that kept the top of her dress up. It fell, leaving her breasts bare to the sunlight and her lover’s gaze. With a smile, she removed his glasses and dropped them into her purse, which sat beside them on the bench. Obviously having given up on arguing, William bent his head to her chest. He sucked on one pink nipple while cupping the other breast in his hand. Buffy arched her back, mewling and pressing her pussy tighter against the bulge behind his zipper.

“I need you, Buffy.Please. I love you so, dear heart,” William gasped.

She couldn’t form words, but answered by lifting her hips up and reaching between their bodies to undo his fly. When her trembling hands were successful, William sighed in relief and pushed his khakis down while Buffy rested her palms on his shoulders. The head of his cock was peeking out of the front of his boxers and as she watched he pushed back the fabric and fisted his hard-on. She was throbbing with desire and she shifted to position herself so that he’d be able to enter her. The white bell of her skirt settled around them and hid their actions from view.

Buffy gazed down into William’s clear blue eyes. Love and lust shone back at her. The unseasonably warm breeze sighed through the branches of the tree and ruffled his curls. It blew errant rose petals around them, bringing the scent of the garden with them. Never breaking eye contact, she slowly pushed herself down onto his shaft. When they were fully joined they paused and Buffy rested her forehead against his.

“Do you remember,” she whispered, flexing the walls of her channel and making him moan, “when we were under Willow’s spell and I wanted to get married in the park in a white dress, under the trees?” Dappled sunlight was spilling over them from between the willow’s leaves.

“I remember,” William said. His face softened into that look of awe she loved so much. “Are you thinking about that now?”

“Yeah, because this might not be a wedding, but it kind of feels like it. I have a white dress on and everything and…oh god, I love you so much and we’re here…” Buffy didn’t know where the tears came from, but suddenly she was sobbing.

“Oh, my love, my girl-“ William’s hand was on the back of her head, urging her into a fierce kiss. Her hips undulated as she worked herself frantically against him. “Love you, love you, love you…” he was chanting as their bodies crashed together. William was bucking up against her with his hands digging into her hips. The heavy iron bench was rocking on its sturdy legs with the force of their coupling. With each hard thrust he made her cry out at the almost unbearable mixture of pleasure and pain.

Sweat was beading on her chest and William’s face was red. Her tears were long forgotten. Her hands became claws that dug into his shoulders. Throwing her head back she worked her hips even faster. Her thighs shook uncontrollably and she came with a howl.

“Buffy,” he moaned into her chest. His arms banded around her as he continued slamming into her even though she went limp in his embrace. With a flurry of motion and another low moan, William came, buried deep inside her. She relished the feel of his shaft jerking as he spent his load in warm pulses right against the opening to her womb. It felt incredible as her sex continued to throb faintly from the aftershocks of her own earthshattering orgasm.

William’s face was still smashed against her chest. He was panting and continuing to babble his love to her.

She ran her hands through his hair. “William, Spike, no man has ever made me feel the way you do. Sometimes I wish I could have met you all those years ago and it could have just been us, living a simple life.”

“You wouldn’t have-“

“None of that,” she interrupted. “I like to believe that no matter when and no matter where we found each other, we would always end up together. That we would always love each other. Don’t try to mess up my dreams.”

William tilted his head back to look at her with a half-smile lifting one corner of his lips. “I like your dreams very much, Miss Buffy.”


	13. Need

I'd give you everything and more and that's for sure

                -The Yardbirds, “For Your Love”

****

Buffy was still picking rose petals out of her hair as she rode the elevator at Wolfram and Hart up to room 561 alone. William had happily dived back into the research with Wes and Willow. Gunn had even been there, combing through a stack of old land deeds hoping to discover clues about the Thing of Doom. So far they had found zilch.

Privately, Buffy was starting to wonder if Angel hadn’t just been flat out wrong. Maybe the prophecy was for an event that happened a thousand years ago and the Doom-thingy had been stopped by some other Slayer. It’d be nice to be let off the hook for once. However, the guys and Willow seemed to be having a ball with their dusty old contracts and books so she hadn’t bothered interrupting. Nothing wrong with letting them have their nerdy fun.

Buffy braced herself before walking into the suite, but she still ended up on the floor as Demon enthusiastically bowled into her. He was rubbing his cheek against hers and making all kinds of noises.

“I missed you and I’m happy to see you, too. And I’m kind of impressed you managed to get dressed. But who tied your boots?” she asked, eyeing his feet.  Sheepishly, he smiled and then mimed being hunched over while peering one-eyed through… “Fred,” Buffy groaned. Because of course she had.  Demon was looking at her speculatively. “Yes, I’m jealous, you dolt. She got to see and talk to you while I thought you were dead.” Demon immediately looked crestfallen. “And you were probably all charming and sweet and...and she probably halfway fell in love with you because she’s not stupid. Ugh!”

Buffy tried to stand up but Demon launched himself at her, knocking her over again. He draped himself over her and grabbed her hand, desperately smashing it against his chest. She wanted to roll her eyes, but he appeared so upset that she didn’t. “Yes, silly, I know you love me. I just want you, and your feet, and your hands, and all the rest of you, entirely to myself.” Demon dropped his head against her shoulder and wiggled happily. “Well-“ She ran a hand down his back. “And William. I don’t mind sharing you with him.” Demon pushed himself up and looked down at her with a knowing smile. “And I’m not saying you can’t have friends, including friends who are female…and, oh, get off, I need to get ready for whatever you have planned.”

He bounced to his feet and gave her a hand to pull her up. Patting her on the bottom, he grabbed the TV remote and slouched on the end of the bed to wait.

Buffy quickly showered and traded her white dress for a tight red velvet top, a black leather mini-skirt, and ankle high boots with a small heel. She looked longingly at her red stilettos but they were hard to walk in, let alone run. Probably not a great choice when she’d be following Demon around. She even shimmied on a pair of red lace panties, knowing he would enjoy ripping them off her more than finding she had nothing on.

When she exited the bathroom, Demon’s eyes went wide and he let out an appreciative growl. He grabbed her hand and spun her around, inspecting every last inch of her. Buffy watched as he looked at the bed wistfully for a moment, then shook his head, picked her Scythe up from where it was leaning against the wall and handed it to her. It didn’t surprise her at all that what he had planned would require weapons.

Her stomach growled. “I don’t suppose we can have dinner first?” she asked. Demon took her hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow, nodding solemnly. “Oh! You have something arranged. Sweet! Lead on!”

Demon took her past the Wolfram and Hart cafeteria to a private dining room. He held up a finger, indicating she should wait. Buffy crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. In a flash he was back, grinning and waving his hand for her to come inside. There were carts loaded down with all kinds of fruits, pretzels, chips, and…

Buffy squealed and jumped up and down. She pulled Demon into a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you!” Beaming, Demon gently pushed her in the direction of the chocolate fountain. She grabbed a piece of pineapple and held it under the warm chocolate before stuffing it in her face. “Oh wow, that’s delicious.”

She tried the pretzels, the dried coconut, and was considering a strawberry when she saw Demon nip off the claw on his forefinger and stick it in the chocolate.

“Wha’cha doing?” she asked, sauntering to stand beside him. He jumped and looked guilty while trying to hide his hand behind his back. Buffy giggled and grabbed his wrist, bringing his hand to her mouth so she could suck the chocolate off his finger. His eyes rolled back in his head. “I sort of wish I could dunk you,” she said with a breathy moan. Demon narrowed his eyes at her then looked down at the front of his pants. “Do not even think about sticking your dick in there,” she giggled, and he huffed. “Here.” She handed him a strawberry. He coated it in the rich chocolate and held it while she ate. Buffy moaned at the decadent taste.

Demon found her a chair and continued to feed her while she continued to tease him. She was sort of amazed she actually got full without him breaking down and screwing her on the carpet. He must really want to do whatever else he had in mind.

“What now?” She picked up her Scythe and gave it a few practice swings. Demon shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. “I’m guessing we go out and haunt the streets of LA?” Demon shrugged again, but bent over to pick up a black hoodie that’d been hung over the back of a chair. He pulled it on and raised the hood then slung his sword and scabbard over his back. “Nice look,” she said, slapping him on the ass as she walked by.

****

Los Angeles was full of demons, and not the nice kind that she could ignore and let go about their business. Demon and she had spent the better part of three hours taking out groups of all kinds of nasties that preyed on the local population. The latest was a pack of vamps, eight big males that’d been haunting skid row. They seemed to be looking for junkies, trying to get a vicarious high. Buffy dusted the first one before the group was even aware of the danger. Demon beheaded two more of the remaining vamps with a single swing of his sword. The rest rushed down an alley, turning to fight in the narrow space when they reached a dead end. Those five proved tougher than anything else had been so far. It was exhilarating. Demon laughed as they fought side-by-side.

When only one vamp was left the idiot tried to run. Demon grabbed a fistful of its greasy hair. He used the fleeing vamp’s momentum to swing it around and into the brick wall of the alley. The vamp staggered back and Buffy used the stake end of the Scythe to dust it. She was breathing hard, chest heaving, and Demon couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her breasts. He dropped his sword and grabbed her. With a snarl, he pushed her back against the same wall the vamp had bounced off of a moment ago.

Buffy moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist. He ground his cockstand against her while his fangs nipped at her lips. Her insides turned to molten heat. She needed him. His hands worked their way under her skirt and he briefly ran his claws over the lace of her underwear before tearing it from her body. He sniffed the wet crotch, his eyes closing in ecstasy, then shoved them in the back pocket of his jeans. It was such a Spike thing to do that Buffy couldn’t help but moan his name as Demon kissed his way back up the column of her throat.

Demon nuzzled at the spot behind her ear that always made her melt. Panting, she reached down, undid his belt, popped the button on his jeans, and lowered the zipper. Her hand found his cock and stroked its hard length. Demon groaned. After a few moments he removed her fingers and replaced them with his own. He fisted the base of his shaft and rubbed the tip against her clit. Buffy thrashed her head back and forth. Her legs tightened around his waist and tried to force him closer.

Demon ‘tsked’ and shook his head. He dragged the ruddy head of his cock over her slick folds, again concentrating on her nub.  The sensation was decadent. She mewled and circled her hips, her eyes sliding shut. She forgot the dirty alley, the uncomfortable bricks behind her back, the moths fluttering around the ugly orange street lamp. There was only the friction of Demon’s cock rubbing firm circles over her clit. She came surprisingly fast, her hands trembling against his chest as she panted out her orgasm.

He cooed softly and there was the brush of fingers against her cheek. Blinking, she opened her eyes to find his feral yellow ones gazing at her with so much love it left her breathless. Holding her gaze, his hand grasped his cock again and, achingly slowly, he penetrated her still-pulsating channel. He stretched and filled her until their pubic hair was intermingled. As she braced her back against the wall, Demon grasped her right wrist and placed her hand over his still heart. Then he intertwined the fingers of his right hand with her left before leaning forward to lightly kiss her lips. With a soft sigh he began thrusting into her with a gentle, rolling motion.

Buffy was overwhelmed. He was making love to her. The slide of his cock in and out of her was almost tender, though he was still managing to brush over all her most sensitive spots with each plunge into her body. His lips were soft as he pressed kisses along her jaw and his tongue cool as he licked his way down her neck. Groaning, he dropped his head onto her shoulder, his nose pressed tight against her neck.

The steady rhythm of his body loving hers was driving her closer and closer. Demon was grunting with each thrust. His tempo sped up slightly and with a muffled cry he jerked his head so he was facing away from her. A shudder passed through his entire body.

“Demon,” Buffy whispered. “Do you want to bite me?”

He nodded against her shoulder and whimpered softly.

“Shhh.” She let go of his hand and ran her fingers over his hair. “It’s okay, I trust you. Let me feel your fangs.”

His head whipped up and he froze, staring into her face.

“I love you,” she said. “I love all of you, everything that you are. Let me give you this.” She turned her head so that the beat of her pulse would be visible.

Tenderly, he wrapped an arm around her back, supporting her as his hips resumed rocking. The other hand he planted on the wall next to her head. Demon kissed her again before he dropped his face back to her neck. Buffy was barely breathing as his lips sucked at her skin. Her hand tangled into the tiny curls at the nape of his neck.

She was so close to coming, just needing that final push. The muscles of her stomach were tense and the walls of her pussy were clamped down tight.

“Please,” she begged.

Demon growled softly and then his fangs were sliding into her. She came hard, keening her pleasure as she bucked against him. Fireworks exploded behind her eyelids. The pleasure went on and on as he sipped from her neck.

His whole body stiffened for a second before he threw his head back, yowling his release to the night. Buffy’s hand went to her neck and she barely felt two little pinprick holes. He’d bitten her, but hardly enough to get a taste. She pressed hard against the marks and came again, her heels digging into Demon’s ass. His cock jerked hard inside her as her pussy throbbed with her release.

At last he set her back on her feet. She leaned against the dirty brick wall, panting.

Demon had his head tilted and was looking at her in concern.

“I’m okay,” she said with a smile. “You hardly took any, but I am ready to head home.”

Demon pulled his hood up, slung his sword over his shoulder, and offered his elbow again.  Buffy took it and picked up her Scythe from where it was resting against a trash can. Her guys sure did know how to show a lady a good time.

****

She found William still in Wes’ office, discussing something with the ex-Watcher she had no hope of understanding. When William saw her he instantly dropped the book he was holding on the table with a loud thump, making the other man jump.

“Hi, Buffy,” Wes said weakly, looking over his shoulder at where Demon and she were hovering in the doorway.

Buffy self-consciously made sure the collar of her coat was still flipped up. There were some things she didn’t want to share with the world. “Hey, just here to steal my guy back.”

“Thanks for loaning him out, not that we’ve found even a hint of anything. If I didn’t know any better I’d think Angel was making it up.”

Buffy shrugged. “I was thinking he just read the scroll wrong.”

William yawned as he put an arm around Buffy.  “I’ll see you on the morrow, Wes. I best get this girl to bed now.”

Wes blinked owlishly at them.

“He means to sleep.” Buffy bit her lip to keep from laughing at Wes’ discomfort.

“Oh, entirely. I did not mean to imply anything improper-“

Demon snorted.

Giggling, she headed towards the elevators. Honestly, she was exhausted. It’d been a very long, fun, and amazing day, but now she was happy to have both her boys by her side once more.

In their room she fixed up the bed and turned down the comforter while William used the bathroom and brushed his teeth. As soon as she was finished, Demon, already stripped down, jumped into the bed. William came out of the bathroom in a clean pair of boxers and followed suit.  Buffy snuggled in between them and their arms and legs quickly intertwined. The three of them sighed nearly simultaneously as they relaxed and the world seemed to right itself. They were together, safe, and home.

****

Angel leaned back in his chair and the leather creaked in protest. He’d been staring at the screen of his laptop for hours, watching Buffy sleep. Of course, that also meant watching both the human and demon parts of Spike sleep. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting to see when he’d brought up the security camera feed, but the three of them tangled up together deep in slumber hadn’t exactly been it. He knew she’d gone out that morning with the human and then again later with the demon, but he’d declined to have them followed. There was no way Buffy wouldn’t pick up on a tail.

Once Buffy and both halves of Spike were in their room, Angel hadn’t been able to help himself. He had needed to know what was happening, but all they’d done was sleep.

It made something inside him ache.

Had he ever been so domestic with Buffy? She’d used the t-shirt the demon had taken off as a nightgown. She’d kissed them both good night and the boy had wished her sweet dreams. It was homey, like they’d been sleeping side by side for years instead of days.

Angelus was revolted. _Spike’s demon should be so much dust, the boy dead with his throat ripped out, and the girl screaming while we take her again and again_. Angel sighed. Angelus was really getting to be a broken record.

Liam was still confused about why anyone would want to shackle themselves to one woman for all eternity, no matter how amazing she was.

Angel wished it was him she was going to wake up with in the morning.

He leaned forward as the boy, lying on his stomach with his face towards Buffy, began to twitch and fret in his sleep. The demon, who was spooned against the Slayer’s back, lifted his head and then gently shook her shoulder. Buffy woke and quickly slid so she was lying on her back with the boy’s head pillowed on her shoulder and his arm around her waist. Angel couldn’t make out what she was whispering to him, but the response from the boy was clear: “Burning.” 

The boy’s shoulders were shaking as he wept against Buffy’s chest while she mumbled comfort to him and ran her fingers through his hair. The demon crawled over both of them to cuddle up against the boy’s back.

Angel closed the laptop and stared at the lid.

Buffy had comforted him when he’d returned from hell. She’d told him how much she loved him and had helped him find some measure of peace. So many sweet words and promises. She’d said they could be together without sex, that she didn’t need the physical side of a relationship.

Angel let out a bark of laughter and pinched the bridge of his nose.

What a pack of lies.

He’d bet good money that if he peeked in on the three of them again the comfort the boy would be getting would be the warm and wet kind she kept between her thighs.

Angel raked a hand through his hair. If he had stayed and tried to make it work with Buffy, how long would it have been before she decided she had an itch only some guy’s dick could scratch? She would have made a fool out of him.

She was making him look like an idiot now. Angel was the PTB’s champion but everyone knew Buffy had thrown him over for his grandchilde. Everyone knew she was a tart, opening her legs for both the human half of Spike and for the creature that was hardly more than an animal.

Hysterical laughter threatened to escape him. Angel tried to stifle it but in the next instant the mirth turned into a sob.

He had lost the girl because he couldn’t screw her into the ground and Spike could.

It wasn’t fair. Buffy had been the pure and righteous paladin for good. When Angel completed his work for the Powers they were supposed to give him his humanity back and Buffy was supposed to be there, shining in the sun, waiting for him.

That wasn’t happening now. She wasn’t his anymore. Buffy had given up her place in the sun to wallow in the dark and the mud with someone else. Someone who, despite having given his life for her, was more than willing to sully her.

Angel knew he could fix this. He might not even want to take her back when she realized she’d made a mistake and came begging. And now he had new ammo for the fight. The boy was scared of burning again? Just another layer of icing to add to the cake. Angel picked up the phone and pressed one of the speed dial keys. It rang twice before he was connected.

“Hey, it’s Angel, I have something else I need…”


	14. Jealous

Well, I got down on my knees

                -The Mamas & The Papas, “California Dreamin’”

****

It was nearly noon before Buffy managed to crawl out of the bed. She’d been awake for almost an hour, but with both Demon and William partly on top of her she hadn’t wanted to move. However, lying there with William drooling on her shoulder had given her too much time to think.

She needed to call Dawn and tell her Spike was alive. For a few minutes she’d debated with herself, wondering if she should wait until Spike was back to his normal self. Only that didn’t make her any better than Angel, did it? Thinking he would wait to tell her about Spike because he’d been a ghost. Buffy had shuddered and knew she had to call her sister right away. Also she’d really needed to pee.

Somehow she’d gotten William back on his own pillow and Demon’s arm tucked beside him instead of in a near death grip around her middle. She wiggled down and off the bottom of the bed. Stretching, she rolled her shoulders and padded into the bathroom.

After peeing, and since she was already in there with the door closed, she hopped up on the vanity counter to use the phone set into the wall next to the hair dryer. Nothing said upscale hotel like a phone in the bathroom. It made her feel all ‘Pretty Woman’. Only she wasn’t a hooker and William drooled way more than she imagined Richard Gere did.

Giggling to herself, Buffy picked up the receiver and gave the operator Dawn’s number in Rome.

There were a couple of clicks and the line became scratchy as it connected across a continent, an ocean, and then half of another continent.

The line picked up. “Pronto.”

“Hi Dawn! It’s Buffy.”

“Buffy? Oh no, what’s wrong? Who got hurt?”

“Huh? Everyone’s okay, as far as I know.”

“Then why are you calling?”

Buffy pouted. “I call for reasons other than dire emergencies.”

“Sure you do.”

“Like now. Now isn’t an emergency.”

“Then what is it?” Dawn sounded incredibly bored.

“You’ll never guess where I’m calling from.”

“Probably not so I’m not going to even try.”

There was knock at the door and Buffy pushed it open with her foot. “You’re not going to even try?” Her lower lip crept out even further. She wanted Dawn to play along. William, yawning and stretching, shuffled into the bathroom. His eyes landed on her lip and he bent forwards to give her a kiss that left her breathless.

“Good morning,” he rumbled before turning the sink on to wash his face.

The line had gone silent.

“Dawn?” Buffy asked. William looked up her, water dripping off his face. His eyes were lit up.

“Uh, who was that?” Dawn squeaked.

“You didn’t guess where I was.”

“The bottom of the sea, on the Great Wall of China, I don’t know! Who was that?”

Buffy huffed. “I’m in L.A. at Angel’s.” William was being distracting. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, wearing nothing but his boxers and looking yummy. She was probably the one drooling now.

“Oh my god, Buffy, was that Angel? Have you gone completely mental? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It wasn’t Angel.”

“Then who the heck was it? And stop playing games because it’s getting late and I’m trying to finish my organic chemistry homework.”

“You’re never going to believe me.”

“Buffy!”

“Spike.”

There was a pause, an audible indrawn breath, and Buffy held the phone as far away from her as she could as Dawn let out a loud squeal at a pitch and volume that seemed designed to attract the attention of every dog in a ten mile radius.  William grinned.

When it stopped at last, Buffy gingerly put the receiver back to her ear.

“You’re not kidding? He’s there?”  Dawn was breathing noisily through her nose.

“Yeah, Dawn, he is. Um, there was a little…not exactly a problem…”

Dawn nearly growled. “What’s going on?”

“First he was a ghost and now he’s not, but he got split somehow into his human and demon sides. So there’s, like, two of him at the moment.”

There was dead silence except for the scratch of the connection itself.

“Buffy,” Dawn finally said, nearly whispering. “Tell me you’re doing what I think you’re doing.”

“Uh, what do you think I’m doing?”

William raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, Geeze, Buffy, I’m not twelve. I think you’re having a bunch of hot monkey sex with both halves of Spike.”

“Uh, Geeze, Dawn. You’d, like, totally be right.”

Both girls giggled. William had straightened up and was shifting his weight from side. Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. Couldn’t he see she was busy talking to Dawn?

“So what do you call them?” Dawn was asking. “Spike One and Spike Two?”

“No, Demon and William.”

William’s gaze was darting frantically between her and…the toilet. She put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Just pee,” she hissed at him.

His face looked pained. “I don’t think I can with you watching. It just…wouldn’t be proper.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. She hopped down off the counter and walked out of the bathroom, stretching the phone cord behind her and shutting the door. “Now what were you saying?” she asked Dawn.

There was a dramatic sigh on the other end of the line. “I was telling you that I’m going to use the Council credit card Giles gave me to book a flight in three weeks when we have a term break so I can come out there and see you guys.”

“Sure, that sounds…” Buffy yelped as she looked up to see Demon still lying in bed, the red panties she’d been wearing the night before draped over his face. And he was jerking off.

“Buffy?” Dawn was shouting at her through the phone.

“Uh, I need to call you back, like later. Trip, credit card, all good. See you soon.”

Demon heard her voice and propped himself up on one elbow, her blood-red undies hanging from his smirking lips, while his hand continued pumping his erection.

“Um, how about calling this weekend?” Dawn was still talking. “I’ll probably have some calculus and Latin homework but it shouldn’t take me too long-“

“Okay, Dawnie, great, um, bye.” She bent down and set the receiver on the floor, hoping Dawn would take the hint and hang up.

Buffy couldn’t take her eyes off Demon. He took his hand off his cock long enough to pull her panties from between his fangs and spit into his palm before returning to stroking his hard length. Lust was searing through her. She wanted him but seemed rooted to the spot, transfixed by the sight in front of her. When his eyelids drooped and his hand sped up, she whimpered.

Demon nodded his head towards his side of the bed and kneeled on the edge of the mattress as she hurriedly moved to stand right in front of him. She yanked her black t-shirt off and tossed it to hopefully land over the phone receiver. Just in case. Demon’s gaze traveled over her breasts and his fist tightened around his shaft.

He reached out with his free hand and pushed down gently on her shoulder. Buffy widened her stance and sank gracefully to her knees. Demon, blond hair mussed, looked thoughtfully down at her. He pushed his hips forward and ran the tip of his cock over her lips. Obediently, she opened her mouth but instead of having her use it on him he continued to fuck his hand.

It only took her a second to figure out what Demon was up to. She had seen a porno or two, after all. He was going for the money-shot. Buffy brought her hands to her breasts and cupped them. Rolling her nipples between her fingers she moaned breathily and licked her lips. Demon curled his tongue behind his fangs and ran a hand down his well-muscled torso. Buffy’s neglected pussy was throbbing with need. It was a damn good thing Demon was a vampire because she wasn’t going to let him rest very long after this.

Demon groaned and the tempo of his stroking increased again. Buffy braced her hands on his taut thighs. With a snarl he came. The hand pumping his cock aimed the cool spurts of his semen into her mouth, onto her breasts, and he painted her cheeks and chin. When he was done he sagged forward, panting.

There was a strangled noise from the direction of the bathroom. William was standing there, wide eyed, with the front of his boxers barely containing his hard-on. Buffy smiled at him. She stood, wiped some of the come dripping down her breasts off with a finger and stuck the digit in her mouth as she walked towards William.

He was breathing hard and staring at her. Buffy wiped some more come off her face, and trailed her fingers over his chest. Then she bent over, picked up the phone receiver, which was caught by the cord on the bottom edge of the door frame, and walked into the bathroom. She put the receiver to her ear and was relieved to hear the fast beep of a disconnected call. Hopefully Dawn had gotten off the line before she’d heard too much.

Buffy hung up the phone, but it rang almost as soon as it hit the cradle.

She answered it: “Now what Dawn?”

“Um, Buffy? It’s Riley.”

“Riley?” she asked, confused.

There were twin snorts of disgust from behind her. Buffy turned to find both her guys standing in the doorway looking less than pleased.

“I, um…here’s the thing, Buffy,” Riley said. “I know, well, I’m just worried about you.”

She grabbed a washcloth, doused it in cold water, and dabbed at her face. “Why would you be worried about me? Didn’t we go over all the ‘I can take care of myself’ stuff a long time ago?”

Her boys looked at each other and seemed to quickly come to a decision as they both subtly nodded. Demon crashed his lips into William’s. They kissed hungrily and Demon’s hands glided down William’s back to grab his ass. William groaned and rocked his hips forward to rub his erection against Demon’s stomach.

Riley was still talking: “Of course I’m not saying you’re not capable, it’s…well…”

Buffy was having trouble thinking. “This had better not be anything about Spike,” she managed to squeak.

William’s fingers were digging into Demon’s hips.  

“Not Spike,” Riley said and sighed. “I don’t have any desire to know anything about what you’re doing with Spike. Ever. I’m talking about Angel.”

“Angel?” she said, confused.

Demon growled and dropped to his knees. He yanked down William’s boxers and ran his tongue up the underside of William’s hard-on.

Buffy had to lean against the counter as her knees gave out.

“Angel is up to something,” Riley blathered on. “He’s called the base three separate times that I know of, asking very specific things about demonic activity, and the last time he was asking if we had anything bigger in a cage somewhere that we could possibly bring to L.A. if the price was right.”

“That’s w-weird,” she gasped. Demon was bathing William’s cock with his tongue. William’s eyes were closed and he was clutching at Demon’s head for support.

Riley sighed again. “So please be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt. And I’d still really like to talk to you. I’m sorry about how I left and I’d like for us both to have closure…”

Demon was lapping at the head of William’s cock. The end of his tongue found the slit at the tip and wiggled its way in. William jerked. “Bye, Riley,” Buffy said and hung up the phone briefly before leaving the receiver on the counter so no one else could call. She moaned loudly as she grazed her fingers against her swollen clit.

With a smirk, Demon stood up and seized her, lifting her off the counter and carrying her into the bedroom. She shrieked and grabbed at his shoulders while William, laughing, scrambled out of the way. Demon dumped her on the bed and she rolled onto her back. William walked up beside Demon and ran a hand down Demon’s side. They turned to face each other and William grabbed the back of his counterpart’s head, pulling him into another deep kiss. Demon’s arms settled around William.

Buffy’s fingers went to her clit again. Demon’s shaft was hard and straining once more and both her boys were grinding against each other. Since she didn’t have a camera she tried to memorize every detail, from the way the light glinted off William’s glasses to the exact color of the head of Demon’s cock as it slid over the pale skin of William’s abdomen.

Her guys paused and looked into each other’s eyes, doing that freaky thing again where they didn’t need to talk to communicate. They separated and William climbed onto the bed. He pushed her legs apart and settled his head between her thighs, swiping his warm tongue up her folds and making her cry out. She wove the fingers of one hand into his curls and used the other to pull his glasses off. Shakily, she held them out and Demon rescued them from her trembling fingers.

William’s tongue was everywhere, worshiping every inch of her pussy. He lapped at her clit and darted the tip in and out of her opening. It was divine. She was moaning and riding his face, both hands now buried in his hair. His blue eyes would shyly dart glances up at her as she writhed under his lips and tongue. He looked very pleased with himself.

She came apart, bucking her hips and yelling hoarsely. William continued to feast on her pussy while Demon settled on the bed beside her. Gently, he stroked the claws of one hand over her hip while the other hand wormed its way under her until he could pushed a blunt, lubed finger into her ass. She yelped and came again, panting and moaning, against William’s tongue.

While Demon continued to work her ass with his fingers, William scooted up her body so he could kiss her. He pulled her completely onto her side so she was sandwiched between the two of them. It wasn’t long before Demon replaced his fingers with the tip of his cock. He slid in a few inches then stayed still when she gasped and stiffened.

William continued to kiss her and his hand went to her breast to tenderly knead her flesh. He rolled a nipple between his fingers, making her hiss in a breath.

When she’d adjusted to the stretch and relaxed, Demon, still gripping her hip, sheathed his cock to the hilt. William tenderly cupped her cheek. “You doing okay?”

“Way better than okay,” she said breathlessly. William shifted and his cock brushed against her clit briefly before sliding into her pussy. Buffy moaned and hooked her leg over William’s hip. Twisting her shoulders, she brought her mouth to Demon’s and kissed him. William’s head bent forward to rest against her chest.

She rolled her hips and both men groaned. William’s hand went to Demon’s hip and they quickly found a steady rhythm. She could feel their cocks pushing against each other inside her body. It was amazing. Her hands fluttered uselessly against William’s chest and her breathing became ragged. They were moving as one, forward, backwards, in and out. Buffy’s legs trembled and her inner muscles clenched.

She keened her pleasure and bit Demon’s lip as she came. He purred his enjoyment. She’d barely started to come down when another orgasm hit her and took her back up. William’s thrusts increased and he was grunting against the skin of her neck. The pleasure was white-hot and pulsing as it spiraled outwards from between her legs, echoing back from her fingertips and toes. “I love you, I love you,” she was babbling over and over. Demon intertwined his fingers with hers and placed their hands over the center of William’s chest.

William bit down on her neck, over the marks Demon had left the night before, as his body went rigid and he came. His cock spasmed hard inside of her, flooding her channel with come. Demon was fucking her ass with short, sharp thrusts, his face against the back of her neck. William was warm and pliant, breathing hard, as his body molded itself to hers.

With a sighing grunt, Demon came. He continued to pump his hips as he spurted his load into her ass. He finally stopped moving. Contented, happy noises escaped his throat as he settled against her. William wrapped his arms around both of them and Demon did the same. Neither of her boys seemed willing to pull their cocks from the haven of her body.  Not that she would have let them go, anyway. They were safe like this, they wouldn’t disappear on her, not when they were so connected.

The door to the suite flew open.

****

Angel knew he’d been a bear for most of the day to his staff. They’d started avoiding him like the plague well before lunch and all his afternoon meetings had mysteriously ended up cancelled.

Tonight was the night. It was a long drive and they’d have to start soon.

The phone rang and he picked it up.

“Ready,” a cold voice said and hung up.

Angel sighed and put the phone back in the cradle. Last chance to get out of this. He could just never bring it up again.

He opened his laptop and Angelus cackled: _Just a little peek?_

With sharp gestures he pulled up the security camera in room 561.

Angel gasped. The boy was giving it to her from the front while the demon was doing her from behind. Neither Darla or Dru had ever let them…

His cock twitched.

Making a disgusted snort, he slammed the computer shut. 

Buffy needed a lesson. Spike needed to be reminded of those he’d learned a lifetime ago.

Angel stormed out of his office and barked at Harmony to call Wes, Gunn, and Willow and tell them to get their asses ready and down to the garage as fast as possible. Thank goodness for necrotinted glass. They didn’t have to wait for nightfall to head for the spot in the desert Angel had picked for the final showdown.

The elevator seemed to take forever. He didn’t hesitate as he burst into Buffy and Spike’s room. The three of them were still intimately attached to each other. Angel’s lip curled in revulsion.

 _That looks like fun_ Liam unhelpfully pointed out. Angelus agreed.

Angel crossed his arms and glowered at the shocked expressions on Buffy and the boy’s faces. The demon was growling.

“I just got a call. The Thing of Doom has risen. Cover yourselves and meet me in the garage,” Angel snapped. He spun on his heel and left.

He wasn’t jealous, he assured himself as the elevator headed downward. He was making…he wasn’t jealous.


	15. Messed Up

Try to set the night on fire

-The Doors, “Light My Fire”

****

The click of the blinker as Gunn flicked it on was loud in the van’s interior. Everyone was subdued. Buffy had claimed the backseat for her and her boys. They were both wrapped around her as tightly as the seatbelts would let them. It’d been more than an hour since Angel had even dared to turn his head to glance at them.

She was pissed.

Angel hadn’t called, hadn’t knocked, he’d just once again invaded their privacy. And it hadn’t been like she, William, and Demon been playing Scattergories. Being that connected to another person, especially to someone she loved, was essential a sacred act for her. The judgmental, disgusted look that Angel had worn as he’d told them to get up had defiled the hallowed nature of their coupling. It’d turned the holy into the profane. If an apocalypse hadn’t been brewing Wolfram and Hart’s housekeeping division would have needed to dispatch someone with a dustbuster to room 561.

Wesley had tried to drag information out of Angel, but the vampire had kept repeating that he didn’t know much. The commandos had simply told him that a large surge of supernatural energy had emanated from out in the desert and that they needed him and his team to check it out. Angel said that he just had a feeling. This was it. The Thing of Doom had risen. The scroll had hinted that there may still be a way to stop it. Buffy was hoping that meant she’d get to kill the Thing of Doom, and that hopefully it’d put up a good fight first. She was in the mood to hit something until there was nothing left but a grease spot on the floor. At this point she’d prefer a dusty grease spot.

It was almost amazing that the back of Angel’s head hadn’t caught fire from the glares she, Demon, and William had trained there.

Her hands were sweaty and cramped from how hard she was hanging onto both her boys. The pit of her stomach was roiling. She was scared, no, terrified, of losing Spike again. There was no way they’d let her go against this demon without them, but she still wished she could wrap them in gauze and tuck them somewhere safe until all this was over.

The van turned off the paved road and bumped over nearly a mile of rutted desert trackway. The hills hid the lights from any nearby towns and L.A. was several hours behind them now. As they got out of the van she gasped. The stars hung brightly above them.

William reached out and touched her face. “I haven’t seen them like this in ages,” he whispered. “It reminds me of when I was much younger and the world wasn’t yet beholden to the tyranny of the electric light.” He hugged her close as they looked at the stars wheeling overhead. Beside them Demon made a low cry of distress. With one clawed finger he pointed towards where the other members of the team were slowly walking.

It was an old mission church. Beside it there was an oasis with a gleaming pool of water and a few waving palm trees, but the nave itself was mostly sunk into the sand.

Buffy trembled and her palms started sweating. She readjusted her grip on her Scythe.

“Are you-“ William’s arms tightened around her.

“I’ll be okay.” She smiled wanly at him. “Let’s catch up with the others.”

Demon huffed, but clasped his hand over hers on the haft of the Scythe as they walked towards the entrance. On her other side, William’s strong, warm fingers intertwined with hers.

Buffy lifted her chin and fixed her eyes on the shattered wood of the front doors of the church. It didn’t matter what they’d find in there, because this time she wasn’t going to be facing it alone.

****

Wesley kicked the doors to the church open. Wind howled through the dark opening, whipping sand around their ankles. William shakily held up a flashlight and let the beam play around the vestibule. There was nothing but the damaged adobe walls. Long scratches were gouged into them, like a very large cat had been sharpening its claws.

Demon’s nostrils flared and he growled low in his throat. Buffy tightened her grip on her Scythe.

“They’re behind us,” William whispered. Buffy nodded. They’d been so worried about whatever was waiting inside the church that they’d let themselves become boxed in. Willow shook her head when Buffy glanced at her. The space was too small. Any offensive spells would be as dangerous to their side as the enemy.

Angel vamped out and turned to face the doorway. Silently, Demon glided up beside him. Buffy hung back, staying with William who was still studying the scratches on the wall.

“I think these were made by Boreni Demons,” he said.

“Really?” Wes asked. “What makes you think that?”

“The pattern, direction, and height of the slashes. Along with the fact that there appears to be only three claws per limb. They are known to mark their dens to show ownership.” William leaned closer to the wall and adjusted his glasses on his nose. “Demon, can you smell them? Boreni have a cat-like scent but it may be too subtle for human olfactory receptors.”

Demon turned his head and glared at William. She didn’t blame him. Her Slayer senses were going nuts. There were at least five of the brony-whatever demons converging on the door. Demon nodded once and dropped into a fighting stance.

“Uh, William, he says he can smell it. But, uh…” Buffy trailed off as she braced for the attack.

“Oh, that’s good news. They’re actually very easy-“

The Boreni charged. The vestibule was suddenly filled with snarling, snapping, four-legged creatures. She couldn’t decide if they looked more like cats or dogs. They had dog-like snouts but cat-like tails. Each three toed foot was tipped with razor sharp claws. But for all their fierce appearance they went down easy. Demon smashed his fist into the growling face of the first Boreni that jumped at him. It collapsed in a heap, dead.

Angel seized one by the tail and swung it around and into the doorframe. It didn’t get back up. Buffy took out two with a flick of her Scythe. William kicked a Boreni that jumped for his throat and Gunn caved the side of the creature’s head in with the butt of his cross-bow.

Demon twisted the head off another. With a roar the last Boreni threw itself at Angel and tried to maul his face. Angel met it mid-leap and slammed it to the ground. He gave a savage snarl and stomped on its side. There was a crack and the Boreni stopped moving. Angel swiped at a cut on his face from which a trickle of blood was running. Everyone else had escaped injury.

Glowering, Angel turned and marched through the knot people clumped together in the vestibule to stand before the doors that led to the nave. He stood up tall and his demon face receded. “I don’t know what we’re going to find behind these doors. I couldn’t get the military to take the threat seriously, so once again it is up to us to be the unsung heroes that save the world.”

Demon wiggled himself between Buffy and William, who’d been standing side-by-side. She looked at her boys and fear gripped her heart. Demon nuzzled his cheek first against William, and then against her.

“I don’t suppose that you’d go wait in the van if I asked?” she said very quietly.

William’s eyes closed. “You wouldn’t request that of us, Miss.”

“No. I wouldn’t.”Her head sagged.

“Whatever we find in there,” Angel was continuing to pontificate. “We will stand fast before it. We will not fail!”

Everyone looked grim.

Demon wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply. He took her hand and pressed it to the center of his chest.

“I love you, too,” she said, brushing the fingertips of her other hand over the vampiric bumps and ridges of his face. Had they ever been anything other than beautiful to her?

Demon planted a kiss on the end of her nose and then spun her around and pressed her into William’s arms. “Oh, my heart,” he whispered and drew her against him. She tilted her head back and he kissed her fiercely, pouring his heart out to her through the connection of their lips.

They were both short of breath when they broke the kiss. “I love you,” she said, pressing her face against his neck.

“I love you, too.” He took a shuddering breath. With a whimper, Demon crowded up behind her and hugged them both. Buffy sighed. She could stay like this forever.

“Are we ready?” Angel hollered.

Reluctantly, Demon, William, and she broke apart. Buffy raised her eyes to meet Angel’s. Emotions were flicking over his face too fast for her to read. He settled on resignation and she curtly nodded to him.

Angel turned and pushed open the door to the nave. He strode inside and everyone else trickled in behind him. Shouldering her Scythe, Buffy brought up the rear.

The nave smelt of smoke and brimstone. Several huge braziers were positioned around the decrepit space. Roaring fires burned in their depths. The floor sloped towards the front, where the church’s altar still was. There were several steps leading up to a raised area on which it sat. The ceiling was lost in gloom. The room appeared empty.

William and Demon were standing shoulder to shoulder. Demon’s hand was white-knuckled on the grip of his sword and William kept looking over his shoulder at her.

Willow’s eyes were narrowed. “Can you feel that?” she asked Wesley. He shook his head and Willow raised her palms up and out and closed her eyes. Everyone watched her for several long moments. With a shudder, her eyes popped back open. “There’s a barrier spell. A really powerful one, cutting off the entire raised area.” She pointed to where the altar sat.

“Anything you can do?” Gunn asked. Buffy really hoped so. All the fire had to be wreaking havoc on her boys’ minds and she wanted to slash, maim, and kill whoever or whatever was behind all of this.

“Yeah, think so. Give me a few.” Willow sank to her knees and Wes crouched beside her.

Buffy sucked in a startled breath as her Slayer senses went haywire. A shadow, elongated and flickering in the light from the braziers, rose up the front wall of the nave.

The Thing of Doom followed its shadow. Massive horns curled back from its forehead. Red eyes, sunken and ancient, stared balefully at them. It towered in black robes over the altar. Leaning forward and resting spindly fingers on the stone, it snorted great breaths through its bovine-like nose. Sharp teeth gnashed and a forked tongue flickered.

“Who dares to enter the presence of the Thing of Doom?” the creature hissed. In front of the altar a ring of fire, maybe six feet across, lit up with a whoosh.Both William and Demon took a step back.

Angel stood tall. “We will stop you, creature. You are not yet at your full power.”

There was a rasping laugh. “Oh no, Champion. You are too late by centuries. The world will perish, crushed beneath the hooves of the four horsemen. War, famine, pestilence, they ride forth with death on their heels.” A buzzing sound filled the chamber. “I am their gateway, their path into this realm. Do you hear that?” The buzzing became louder and Buffy shivered. “It is the flies, million upon millions, which will carry diseases with no cure and no mercy out into the world.”

The buzzing cut off. Buffy pushed past her boys to stand next to Angel. “I will not allow this to happen. There was something-“ She furrowed her brow. “Angel, you said there might be a way to stop this?”

The fire defining the ring before the altar flared higher.

The Thing of Doom laughed again. “Ah, yes, always there is a prophecy. But such an individual, willing to die in fire and be obliterated, no heaven or hell, does not exist. The world has become too degenerate, too full of those who care for nothing but themselves. This is the reason that now I rise.”

There was a clap like thunder and the room shook.

Buffy gulped and eyed the ring before the altar. “I will,” she said quietly.

The Thing chortled. “I’m afraid, little girl, since you’ve already tasted heaven you will not do.”

She found herself being pulled backwards by two sets of hands. William and Demon were both frantically shaking their heads.

Buffy stopped struggling and sat down hard on the stone floor.

“Is there no other?” the Thing croaked.

Angel set his jaw, but to Buffy’s horror it was William that spoke up. “Yes. I will do it. I didn’t sacrifice myself once so that the world could go on just to see it damned to perdition.”

With a last glance at her, William grabbed Demon’s hand and they approached the ring before the altar.

“You have to take both of us…we’re not really separate. It’s a long story. And I know…what I’ve done means it’s better to be nothing than to spend all eternity separated from the one I love. These past days have been more of heaven than one such as I could ever hope to taste.”

The Thing of Doom leaned forward and cocked its head. “You would burn?”

“I’ve already done it once,” William said quietly and both he and Demon shrugged a shoulder.

Buffy felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she silently sobbed. No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening. Spike couldn’t have been given back to her only to be taken away again.

“No,” Angel’s brow was lined with strain. “If there’s anyone that should sacrifice themselves, it should be me.”

The Thing’s ferocious red eyes darted between Angel and where William and Demon were standing.

Demon snorted.

“I am the Champion of the Powers that Be.” Angel moved so he was right in front of William and scowled down at the shorter man. “It is my duty to sacrifice myself.”

“So you say, but, sir, it is my understanding that all you care about is the reward for your actions. You seek redemption. You seek heaven.” William shook a finger at Angel. “I doubt you would even be able to meet the requirements of the prophecy. If there is one thing I know about you, it is that you cannot stand the thought of being nothing.”

Buffy was rocking, her shoulders shaking. Her breath was coming in ragged gulps as her heart broke again and again.

The Thing rapped its claws on the stone top of the altar. It looked indecisive. “Despite your words I think that one of you would satisfy the prophecy.” Its head lolled on its shoulders as it fixed its hideous eyes on her boys.

William immediately pushed a surprised Demon behind him. “Then it will be me,” William said. His words were firm though his face had gone pale.

Demon grabbed his shoulders and pulled William to face him.

“Wait, I’m still the-“Angel started, glaring now at the Thing.

“Shh.” William put his hand on Demon’s cheek. “You know it’s right. You’re the one that can fight beside her, keep her safe. She doesn’t need someone else to read old books for her. Love her enough for both of us.”

Demon stood, stricken, as William turned and stepped into the middle of the ring of flames before the altar. The glow reflected off his glasses as he knelt and bowed his head.

Buffy was shaking with her sobs. She yelped as Willow grabbed her arm.

“The barrier, it’s down,” Willow gasped.

Buffy didn’t hesitate. As fast as she could she bounded up the steps and onto the altar. There was yelling behind her. She raised her Scythe and prepared to take off the demon’s head.

Only…

What the hey?

The Thing of Doom looked a lot less scary close up. She dropped the Scythe, grabbed the front of the demon’s robes and hauled it so it was eye to eye with her. The creature struggled and kicked its feet in the air. She glanced down. It’d been standing on a box?

The Thing’s horns were askew and she reached up and ripped them off its head. They appeared to be paper-mache. She tossed them away. There was a collective gasp from almost everyone in the room. Briefly, she glanced towards them. Demon had dragged William out of the circle of fire and was clinging to him.

She turned back to the creature in her fist. It looked terrified. “Do you have a name?” she asked.

“Uh, uh, I’m…I’m Kevin!” it squeaked.

Buffy blinked. Kevin was not the sort of name demons of doom-prophecies usually went by. “What the hell is going on here?” she thundered.

“Well…” Kevin’s eyes, still red but now looking more beady than frightening, darted to Angel. He raised a long finger and pointed at the vampire. “He made me do it. Said he needed to teach someone a lesson.”

Buffy dropped Kevin, who immediately curled into a ball. Gunn walked over and leveled his cross-bow point blank at the cowering creature.

She was trying to speak but Buffy couldn’t get words past the knot of rage in her stomach. Angel had…she’d been subjected to…her boys had been forced…

With a roar, Buffy launched herself at Angel. Her first swing shattered his jaw.

****

Angel didn’t know what to do when the stupid, nobody demon he’d hired literally pointed the finger at him.

This hadn’t gone his way at all. Spike was supposed to be terrified, either of burning or of becoming nothing and losing all chance at seeing Buffy again.

Obviously he hadn’t given his granchilde enough credit.

Buffy looked like rage incarnate. When she sprung at him Angel barely tried to fend her off. He deserved her anger, her avenging wrath.

He deserved the pain.

She wasn’t holding back. Each blow shattered bone and pulverized flesh. He wasn’t scared until he realized she wasn’t going to stop. Buffy was going to beat him into dust. He tried to croak her name but his throat wouldn’t cooperate.

Then she was gone. The eye he could still open focused on her. It was Spike’s demon that’d pulled her off him. Thank goodness for family. She was weeping against the boy’s shoulder now.

The demon saw Angel looking at him. It rolled its eyes and flipped him off before turning back to rub Buffy’s shoulder.

And Angel knew he was alone. The demon hadn’t saved him. It’d kept Buffy from dusting him because she would have been upset with herself. Rising to her feet, Buffy pulled both the demon and the boy towards a side door of the nave.

Angel’s gaze traveled to where Willow and Wesley were staring at him like he was a cockroach.

His view of the room was abruptly blocked and Angel forced himself to look up at who was hovering over him.

Gunn.

The man shook his head. “Boss, this time you really messed up.”


	16. The Air

I look at the world and I notice it's turning

                -The Beatles, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

****

From the side door of the church a path had been made in the sand that led the three of them to an area under the palm trees beside the deep pool of the oasis. There was a picnic table and several quilts spread out on the sand, their corners held down by rocks. A couple of empty margarita glasses, salt still clinging to the rim, were on the table. It looked like Kevin had been having a good time for a day or two.

Buffy wrapped her arms around herself and stood at the edge of the water, watching the stars reflecting off the dark surface. Her boys stood a little way behind her.

“I’d ask…” She took a deep breath. “I’d ask if you know how I felt, but I know you do. I saw it in your eyes in there when I stepped forward.”

“We’re a pair, aren’t we,” William said softly.

She turned around and raised her eyes to his. “Spike, I can’t lose you again.” Something snapped inside her. “And how…I can’t believe Angel made me feel like that, and you!” She moved so she could wave her finger right under William’s nose. “You should have just let him do it.”

“I had to save you. I always have to save you…”

_Every night I save you._

Buffy’s stomach twisted. Spike could no more let her die again than she could him.

Damn Angel for putting them through this for whatever twisted reason.

No one should ever have to watch the one they love die.

Buffy put the heel of her hand on her forehead. “You’re going to forever be at the base of that tower, watching me fall, and I’m forever going to be standing in that cave watching you burn.”

William’s face fell and Demon keened plaintively.

“But we’ve been making new memories, haven’t we?” Her voice was soft as she held her arms out to her boys. “When I think of you I want rose petals and chocolate, not dark and fire. Help me make better memories.” Demon reached her first. He crashed into her side, then turned her so that her back was to his chest. William was pressed against her front a moment later. It was almost impossible to catch her breath she was sandwiched so tight in between them.

 William pushed slightly away from her. He inhaled sharply through his nose before grabbing her by both shoulders and kissing her. His tongue drove its way through her lips and Buffy moaned.  The kiss was frenzied. The fear of loss and the joy at still being together blending into a fever pitch of need. William shifted and his mouth left hers to trail down her neck. Demon was right there, his cool mouth replacing William’s warm one.

“I’m sorry,” William was muttering over and over again against her neck.

“It’s alright,” she murmured back. Because it was, or would be.

Demon’s mouth left hers and he grabbed William by his hair. With a growl, Demon yanked William upright. The men’s gazes locked and growls and huffs emanated from deep in Demon’s chest. William flushed. “I’m sorry,” he said again as he cupped Demon’s face in his palms. “I won’t try to leave you again, either.”

Demon snorted in a way that made her smile. It was an obvious ‘you better not’. Demon let go of William’s hair and grabbed him by the hips, yanking him close and kissing him hard.

Buffy pressed herself against William’s back and pushed up on her tip toes. “I love you. With everything that I am. You better not forget that.” She bit his earlobe gently and he groaned. One of Demon’s hands lovingly stroked through her hair.

She ran a hand down William’s back and grabbed his ass.

“You’re not going to forget, are you, William?” she asked.

“No, Miss Buffy.” He sounded breathless. With a snarl, Demon crashed his mouth back into William’s. She kneaded his rear end tenderly, then raised her hand and smacked it down sharply. William yelped and his hips jerked forward. A grunt escaped Demon and he tightened his fingers on William, grinding the straining bulge in the front of his pants against his counterpart.

Buffy smacked William’s backside again, making both her boys jump and moan.

Demon caressed William’s ass, soothing the spot she’d just hit.

“That sense of helplessness I had while I watched you kneel in that circle.” Buffy spanked him again. “I never want to feel like that.” Smack “I don’t need a hero.” Smack. “I don’t need a champion.” Smack. “I just need you.” William spun around and grabbed her, picking her up with his hands under her ass. His mouth slammed into hers as she rubbed her core frantically against his hard-on.

“Need you,” he whispered into her mouth. “Never going to leave you again, Buffy. Need you, dear heart, let me feel you.”

Buffy tried pulling at his shirt but gave up after a moment when it became clear it was caught on his belt. Demon’s hands snaked around William and he used his claws to shred away the material. With a happy sigh, Buffy ran her hands over William’s chest. There was a slight prickle under the pads of her fingers and she caressed his sternum. It felt like he was working on growing chest hair.

Buffy smiled. How very human of him. She could just see herself tangling her fingers in short brown curls first thing in the morning when she woke up.

Cold hands tugged at her hips. Reluctantly, William let her slide down his body until she was standing on her feet again. A now naked Demon, big surprise, grabbed her wrist and led her to where one of the quilts was spread out over the sand. She toed off her boots and stepped onto the blanket. Demon followed her and quickly pulled off her shirt and bra. She unfastened her pants and Demon pulled them and her panties down her legs. Stepping out of them, Demon’s fingers even caught her socks so that when she turned around to face him and William she was completely naked.

The desert breeze picked up and slid over her skin in a gentle caress. Both her boys were unabashedly staring at her. Demon was kneeling on the quilt and William had just finished taking off his boots and neatly setting them, with his socks rolled up and stuffed into the tops, on the sand alongside the blanket. Slowly, his hands went to his belt. There was a jingle as he undid it. Never taking his eyes off her, William popped the button of his fly and lowered his zipper. He pushed the fabric of his jeans and boxers down his legs, freeing his cock.

Almost absently he wrapped his palm around his length and rubbed it while he used his feet to work his jeans the rest of the way off. Demon whined slightly and followed William’s example, wrapping a hand tightly around his cock and jerking himself while his eyes darted between Buffy and William.

Buffy licked her lips. She was quickly losing brain power. Being the Slayer and saving the world had always seemed like such a thankless job. Stop an apocalypse and her reward was to stop another one. But this…her eyes roved over the scene in front of her. William with his legs braced, head slightly back and lips parted as he watched her through half-closed lids. Demon on his knees, looking up at her plaintively, his nostrils flaring as he drank in her scent. Both boys steadily stoking their erections. This felt like a reward. A great big thank you for services rendered.

She had to swiftly make her way to the middle of the quilt before her legs gave out completely.

The blanket was soft beneath her as she sat. Demon was immediately beside her, gently pushing her to lie down. The stars overhead winked at her as she did so. Waving gently in the breeze, the fronds of the palm trees alternately obscured and revealed patches of the night sky. Demon was pressed firmly against her side. His nose was buried in her hair, his fingers were cool as they played over her breasts, and his cock was like a steel rod as it poked against her thigh.

William knelt down between her legs. His warm body covered hers. With a sigh, she wrapped her legs around his narrow waist. “I need you,” he whispered. She nodded and his lips found hers at the same time as he pushed his cock deep into her channel. It was bliss. Buffy shook and her hands fumbled against his shoulders.

Demon plucked the glasses from William’s face and crawled off to put them somewhere safe.

William’s head dropped and he pressed his face tight against her neck. The muscles of his back rippled under her fingers. Beneath her heels his ass was flexing and clenching tight with each thrust. The faintest sheen of sweat was forming on his skin. He was working so hard for her. Working to please her, to pleasure her. She was mewling, her body arching up to press even tighter against him.

Demon was lying beside them again.  With soft coos and gentle touches, Demon stilled William’s frantic movements. Buffy was panting, her pussy still rhythmically clutching at William’s cock. Demon kissed her softly and she relaxed. With tender hands, Demon helped them rearrange themselves so that she and William were lying on their sides, still intimately connected. Demon wrapped himself around William’s back and nuzzled his shoulder.

Demon shifted and then quietly huffed against William’s ear. It was a question, and William hesitated only a second before nodding his assent. His eyes met hers. “If it’s okay with you?”

Buffy crinkled her nose for a second before figuring out what her boys were asking. Her brain shorted out and her inner muscles gripped William’s cock convulsively. “It’s okay,” she breathed.

There was a noise, the sound of Demon squeezing the bottle of lube she kept stashed in the pocket of her jeans, just in case. Her lips found William’s soft ones. Demon bowed his head to rest his face against the nape of William’s neck.

William stiffened and moaned. She assumed Demon was working his fingers into his ass. After a few moments William relaxed with a sigh. Buffy rolled her hips very slightly and continued to grasp at William’s cock with her inner muscles. It seemed to grow impossibly hard inside her.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips. “I love you. Demon loves you. And as I’ve said before, we will always take care of you. And we can make you feel so good.”

“Oh, Buffy.” The hand William had resting on her back lifted and he threaded his fingers into her hair before kissing her again. He shuddered under her hands, gasping and moaning at what Demon was doing with his fingers. At last he grew still again.

Demon kissed the space behind William’s ear tenderly. His cold fingers danced lightly over her hip, then descended between her and William’s bodies. He traced lightly around where William and she were joined, slicking his fingertips in her cream before bringing them to her nub. William’s cock bucked hard inside her as Demon circled and flicked her clit.

Demon shifted slightly behind William and William gasped. Buffy could hardly breathe.

“Oh god,” William murmured. His eyes were glazed over as he surrendered control to his lovers. Buffy hitched her leg up and squeezed herself even tighter against William, trapping Demon’s hand as he continued to pet her clit. She ran her hand down William’s back and around the curve of his ass. Her fingers found Demon’s cock and he grunted as she drug her nails lightly against the underside until she reached where her boys were joined.

The pads of her fingers lightly traced how Demon’s cock was stretching out William’s anus, making both her boys groan. Demon pressed his fingers harder against her clit and she could feel as he slid another inch into William’s body. Buffy’s stomach clenched, her legs trembled, and she was coming. Her vision whited out and she was gasping Spike’s name. She had to bring her hand back up to clutch at Demon’s hip to steady her herself. His pelvis surged under her grip and William’s cock jerked inside her as Demon sheathed himself fully inside his counterpart’s body.

“So good to me, both so good to me,” William was babbling. She wrapped her free arm back around him and returned her mouth to his. He kissed her greedily.

Demon petted William’s shoulder, then slowly began to slide his cock a few inches in and out of William’s ass. With every thrust in, it made William’s cock push into her. She rocked her hips in a complimentary rhythm. Between her and Demon they soon had William undone. He was writhing and moaning, his hand clutching at her behind. Demon still had his fingers strumming her clit. Groaning, she came again, her pussy pulsing hard around William’s cock.

“Love you,” he was gasping now. Sweat slicked his skin. She groaned as another orgasm quickly built before she was completely done with the previous one. William wildly drove his shaft into her while Demon grunted and grabbed William’s hip, his pelvis churning.

Buffy exploded again, keening, as the pleasure rolled through her.

She was still quivering with her release when William groaned loudly. “Oh god.” His breath hitched. “Ohgodohgodohgod!” He came, his cock bucking as he spilled his semen deep inside her. The three of them stilled. William and Buffy were panting loudly while Demon hummed his praise and alternately patted both their heads.

Damn, she loved them. The feeling filled her up and inanely she thought it was a good thing they could make love because otherwise she might pass out from the sheer amount of emotion inside her.

When William’s breathing had started to return to normal, Demon huffed and began moving again, seeking his own release.

“Bloody hell,” William whispered and Buffy moaned loudly as William’s cock hardened once more inside her. “I don’t know, oh…” His words trailed off into a low rumbling groan. “I’m not, I’m going to…Buffy!”

“Shh, I got you, I’ve always got you.” She soothingly rubbed his shoulder. Demon was hunched up and fucking his counterpart in earnest now, a clawed hand digging into William’s hip.

Buffy had thought she was done, too, but another world shattering orgasm was building low in her belly. She was grunting and twisting her hips while her hand went to her breast to pinch a pebbled nipple.

With a growl, Demon roughly pushed them so that Buffy was flat on her back with William a heavy weight on top of her. He barely had the presence of mind to plant his hands to keep from completely squishing her.  The movement and Demon’s thrusts into William’s ass drove William’s cock deep into her. Her back arched as she came. She cried out hoarsely and her hands fisted into the quilt.

It went on and on, threatening to drive her completely out of her mind. When the orgasm finally released her, she opened her eyes.

William looked completely lost in the sensations he was experiencing. Buffy ran her hands up and down his back. With a harsh grunt he came again, once more flooding her channel with his warm seed. Demon patted William’s behind lovingly.

With a few more ragged thrusts Demon threw his head back and yowled out his completion. After a few moments he pulled out of William and helped his human half lie down on the quilt before collapsing onto his back himself.

All three of them simply lay there and watched the stars for long minutes.

Surprisingly, it was William that spoke first. “I love you,” he said quietly, turning his head to look first at Buffy and then Demon. It was uncomfortable to move but she managed to snuggle up against William’s side while Demon, purring, did the same on the other.

“I love you, too,” Buffy said, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead. Demon rumbled his agreement and placed first William’s, and then Buffy’s hands over the middle of his chest.

“I don’t suppose we could just fall into a pocket dimension where we have nothing to do except make love to each other forever and ever, could we?” William asked with a soft sigh.

Buffy sighed. “No such luck, and we should probably go find the others. I don’t think they’d leave us here, but we should try to make it back to L.A. sometime before morning.”

Demon rolled to his feet and found the tattered remains of William’s shirt. He pulled off three strips and dunked them into the clear water of the oasis. Buffy stood and William’s come ran in sticky trails down both her legs. Gratefully, she accepted the scrap of fabric and worked on cleaning herself off.

Demon helped William to stand. William looked like he was going to complain, but then just sighed and stood still while Demon gently ran the rag over him and kissed his shoulder.

They dressed silently. Demon insisted William take his shirt rather than be the one half dressed. It made Buffy’s heart glad to see the two of them in such harmony. She knew Demon had been greatly affected by William’s instance that Demon be the one to stay with her. Hopefully now William understood just exactly how much he was wanted and needed by both of them.

Not wanting to reenter the church, they walked, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, around to the front of the building. The van was there, Angel in the front passenger seat. His face was a mess and he looked unconscious, but Buffy still had to repress another urge to kill him for making her think she was going to lose Spike again.

The others were huddled against the van’s side, talking. When Gunn spotted her and her boys he jerked his chin at the van and headed towards the driver’s door. Once again Buffy sat between William and Demon in the back.

After a few silent miles Willow turned to her. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Buffy said, her voice clipped. Absurdly, she was glad she’d been stopped from dusting Angel. If she’d succeeded she wouldn’t have been able to yell at him like she wanted to.

“None of us had any idea,” Willow said sadly.

“We know,” William replied. “And we know where to put the blame.”

Everyone lapsed back into a silence that went on and on. Gunn turned onto a two lane highway. Buffy had just started to drift off, comfortable with her boys’ arms around her, when the van shook slightly.

“What was that?” she asked, sitting upright. The van shook again.

“Earthquake?” Wes didn’t sound convinced.

The van shimmed as the ground heaved under its wheels. Gunn fought to keep from fishtailing.

Demon ducked his head and peered out the van’s windows into the dark night. His eyes went wide and he barely had time to fumble off his seat belt and brace himself around Buffy and William before the van was knocked sideways. There was a second sickening lurch and they were tumbling through the air.


	17. Beast

You don't know what we can see

-Steppenwolf, “Magic Carpet Ride”

****

Buffy woke up, not remembering having gone to sleep in the first place. She blinked. Demon was whining despondently in the back of his throat, his face dirty and scuffed as he held her in his arms. The night sky was spread out overhead. A breeze lifted her hair and she realized they were sitting on the ground instead of in the van. She tried to raise her hand to Demon’s cheek, but pain lanced through her and with a strained noise she let her arm rest back against her chest.

She remembered now. The van tumbling over and over. Something snapping in her forearm as she’d braced it against the seat. She took stock of the rest of her body, but besides the fracture she seemed to be uninjured. Demon had finally noticed she was awake. Tenderly he stroked her face, fear evident in his eyes.

“I’m okay,” she whispered. Terror knifed through her breast and she struggled to sit up. “William, where’s William?”

Demon steadied her on his lap. He brought her hand to William’s head where it was resting on someone’s wadded up jacket next to them. He looked pale and had a dark bruise over his eye, but was breathing easily. She could see the steady beat of his pulse in his neck. His hair was a tangled mess under her fingers. Demon keened softly and laid his hand over hers.

Buffy’s stomach felt like it was tumbling through the air again. She had a tendency to forget William was human, that he didn’t recover or heal as fast as Demon and she did. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, William groaned and opened his eyes. Immediately, he stiffened and his gaze darted around. When it landed on Buffy sitting on Demon’s lap, William relaxed.

“Thank god,” he whispered. “Are you okay Miss Buffy?”

“I broke my arm, but otherwise I’m good. What about you?”

“A bit of a headache and I feel like I just went over Niagara Falls in a barrel.”

Demon grumbled an agreement.

Wincing, William managed to sit upright. He took a few deep breaths and scooted so he was tucked tight against Demon’s side.

Wesley walked over from where the van had come to rest on its roof. At least it hadn’t caught fire. He handed a bottle of water to William and held one out to her. Demon took it for her and used his fangs to get the cap off. The water was a blessed relief going down her parched throat. Wesley had crouched down. “Are you guys doing okay? Demon dragged you out of the van and wouldn’t let any of us get close enough to check.”

Demon huffed and curled tighter around her. Buffy briefly nuzzled against his shoulder. She understood his need to protect her.

“We’re doing as fine as is to be expected under the circumstances,” William said. “What is the plan?”

“Fred was already on her way to meet up with us. We’re hoping she’ll get here soon. Gunn’s up on the highway with a couple flares to flag her down.” Wes rubbed a hand over his dirt-streaked face.

“Why was she on her way?” Buffy asked.

“I’d called her and asked her to bring something to restrain Angel with in case he tried to run. We don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

“I can probably tell you a few things,” William said, glaring at where Angel was sitting alone in the dirt. If he’d gotten any more banged up in the accident, Buffy couldn’t tell.

“Well,” Wes sighed. “Be that as it may, we would all rather be safe than sorry. Fred will have some blood with her as well.”

Demon nodded and Buffy was relieved. There was a good chance Demon was way more hurt than he was letting on.

“So what happened?” She could only dimly remember actually wrecking, not what had caused it. Demon pointed a claw out towards the desert valley that stretched away into the distance. The moon had risen over the rocky hills and was bathing everything in a pale glow.

She forgot to breathe.

Far enough away that she could only see it, but not hear it, was the largest demon Buffy had ever seen.

“It’s got to be eighty feet tall,” William murmured.

“Yeah,” was the only thing she could think to say. The monster was four-legged with a long whip of a tail and a massive head that vaguely reminded her of the paper-mache pterodactyls that had been on display at the natural-history museum when she’d been a kid. In the night the creature looked grey.

Electricity sparked around it as it reared on its hind feet before driving its pointed beak into another bank of equipment in the power substation it was destroying. It thrashed its head and below its beak a wattle like a rooster’s wobbled, scattering debris. It reared again and even at the distance they were from the monster Buffy could feel the ground shake from the impact.

Buffy had no clue how they were going to even begin to fight a creature that size.

“Head’s up!” Gunn called as he limped back down the embankment and Buffy drug her attention away from the monster. A black four-door jeep slowly edged its way off the pavement. It rolled to a stop next to the van. Fred climbed out of the driver’s seat and a flabbergasted Lorne tumbled out of the passenger side.Mouth open, he goggled first at the wrecked van and then at the monster rampaging in the distance.

Fred had opened the back hatch and was pulling out an ice chest. It must have the blood. Buffy tried to stand but Demon clamped his arms tightly around her. Instead, William got to his feet and stiffly walked over to where Fred had dropped the ice chest next to Angel. She fussed over the bump on William’s head while he opened the top of the chest and fished out a couple of silver thermoses.

William hiked back and handed the first one to Demon, who greedily sucked the blood down. The second one didn’t last much longer. Buffy suspected she’d been right about Demon being injured. She ran her hand over his bare back, but didn’t feel any obvious fractures.

Fred was talking animatedly to Wes and even amid all the chaos it amused Buffy slightly to see that Angel had been left to his own devices to eat. He eventually managed to get a thermos open and started drinking.

Lorne walked over to where the three of them were huddled together.

“Hey,” he said, sitting down on the other side of Demon.

“Hi, you doing okay?” Buffy asked, eyeing him. His purple suit was rumpled and his hair was mussed.

Lorne sighed. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” His eyes were on the monster, which had finished with the substation and was currently tracing a huge circle out in the scrub just beyond it.

“You look a little rough for wear,” William said.

“Well, my musketeers, I just found out that my boss, a man I believed was my friend and that I could trust, dreamed up a farce designed to inflict emotional pain on someone. That’d be you sugar.” Lorne put a hand loosely around her ankle. “While at the same time shaming his own family. I can’t say I’m sorry it backfired. I also can’t wrap my brain around it. Or the fact that a nightmare the size of that one is headed for L.A.” He nodded towards the creature.

“Are you going to make Angel sing when we get a chance?” Fred asked, kneeling down in front of Demon and Buffy with a splint and gauze in her hand. Gently, Demon helped Buffy to extend her arm so Fred could wrap it.

“Not sure I want to know what’s going on in that head of his,” Lorne answered woodenly.

William snorted. “He couldn’t stand to see me take something that he thought of as his. He never could. One of the first things he did was let me know that Drusilla wasn’t mine. With the soul he’ll have twisted the reasoning in his own head until he believed he was helping Buffy.”

Demon growled, the sound rumbling through his chest.

Buffy glanced at Angel again, who was now standing and looking much improved after the blood. Over the years she’d forgiven him so much, had shouldered more than her fair share of the blame for his actions as Angelus. Had tried to be understanding when he’d danced with her at prom and then walked away. But this whole situation: not letting her know Spike was at Wolfram and Hart? And then forcing her to go through the pain of thinking she was going to lose him? She couldn’t forgive him, not for any of it. The church, the fire, the threat of losing what she cared about yet again in order to save the world: it’s all been a deliberate attempt by Angel to manipulate her. Probably not his first, though in high school she’d been too trusting and naive to know what he was doing. But this time he’d wanted to hurt her.

This time he had succeeded.

Now Buffy just felt done with him. She didn’t want to talk to him, or see him, or even think about him. Angel wasn’t the hero sixteen-year-old her had thought he was.

Fred finished splinting her arm.

“Tell them about the other thing,” Lorne said softly to Fred.

Fred hesitated. “I found something. In fact, it flat fell on my head while I was looking for the magically enhanced restraints for Angel. I’d forgotten all about it, since it was something we looked at and cataloged several months ago.” She took a deep breath. “It’s an ankh.”

“And…” Buffy frowned.

“An ankh is an ancient Egyptian symbol meaning life, among other things. But I’m guessing this isn’t just something decorative.” William raised an eyebrow at Fred.

She tapped her finger agitatedly against her thighs. “It’s got a fair bit of magic, mostly related to unification, the best that we could tell. I was thinking that if Demon and William both held onto it at the same time…”

“Spike,” Buffy breathed and Fred nodded.

Buffy looked at her boys, who were staring intently at each other. Fear shivered down her spine. She’d become comfortable with them, knew they loved her, but Spike felt like a question mark.

William touched her shoulder. “Buffy, we should do it. If I am to oppose that monstrosity, I’m going to need every resource I have at hand.”

“I understand,” she said, looking between Demon’s yellow eyes and William’s earnest blue ones. Both sets narrowed.

William pushed his glasses up his nose. “Fred, would you be so kind as to show the artifact in question to Willow?”

Fred bit her lip but quickly stood and strode towards the witch. Lorne squeezed Buffy’s ankle one more time before following his coworker.

William got to his feet and Demon helped Buffy to hers.

William crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “What wrong, Miss?” He was looking at the ground and not her. “When Fred informed us that she could put Demon and I back together, I felt a shudder pass through you. What is it? Afraid just plain Spike won’t be enough to sat-“

“Stop,” she whispered. “Stop, don’t. Yes, I’m scared. I’m terrified. What if… what if you, as Spike, don’t…”

Demon’s claws dug into her shoulders and William’s head snapped up. “No. Don’t even say it. How could you think that? When have I not loved you?” He bit back a laugh. “Should be the other way around, shouldn’t it? This has all been a lovely dream for me. You walked into that cell and said “I love you” and you kept saying it. Until I believed you, until Demon believed you. I want to trust it won’t end, but when did you first love me? When I burned to save the world?”

Buffy took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I let you in.”

“What?” William’s eyes flicked over her shoulder to Demon, but obviously Demon didn’t understand it either.

“When you came to us for help, on Thanksgiving. I let you in. I didn’t have to. One quick kick and you would have been dust. If all I was worried about was the mashed potatoes, that would have been the easy way to go. But I let you in. I, not Giles, not Willow, tied you to the chair. I sat you next to me at dinner.” Her confidence slipped a little at William’s bewildered face. “So, uh, I guess it was sometime before that. Probably before the ring, too, because what you said really hurt and if I didn’t give a rat’s ass about you, then why would your words have hurt so much?”

Now William looked downright shocked. “I’m s-s-sorry,” he stammered. Demon wrapped her in a bear hug, huffing and grunting against her hair. She held her hand out to William and he was quickly pressed up against her.

Angel was staring open-mouthed at them. Buffy barely spared him a glance but she hoped he’d heard every word. She leaned against her boys. “It doesn’t matter now. We have lots of time to work it all out. I just wanted you to know you weren’t the only one that cared long before they really understood what they were feeling.” She snuggled against Demon’s chest. “Demon?” He looked down at her and caught her good hand in his to press against his chest. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t understand for so long that you could love me. You know I will never make that mistake again?” Demon bowed his head and rubbed his cheek against hers. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “And make sure I get a chocolate cake on my birthday, okay?” Demon nodded solemnly. Buffy wrapped her unbroken arm around his neck and kissed him deeply. Her tongue glided over his fangs.

Reluctantly, Demon broke the kiss and let go of her. She turned to face William and he cupped her face in both his hands. “Dear heart,” he murmured.

“William.” She had to stop and take a few deep breaths. “I love you. Don’t hide from me, please, and I promise to never push you away again. Or put you down. I need you too, just as much as I need the Demon to fight beside me. I need the man to keep me grounded, to help me see the beauty in life.”

William’s hands trembled against her face. His eyes slid closed as he leaned forward and softly brought his lips to hers. “I love you,” he whispered against her mouth before kissing her. His arms held her gently. After a moment Demon hugged them both. She could have stayed like that for eternity.

“Uh, guys,” Willow sounded apologetic. “We’re ready. I totally think this will work, and there’s kind of a scary monster headed for civilization.”

After a final squeeze, her boys let her go. William’s hand found Demon’s as they walked to Fred and Willow.

Lorne picked his way over to Buffy from where he’d been standing beside the girls.

Buffy’s knees wobbled. “Hey now.” Lorne’s arm went around her shoulders. Fred held up the ankh, which looked like a cross with a loop on the top. William grabbed the loop and Demon the other end.

She couldn’t watch. Biting back a cry, she hid her face against Lorne’s chest. He held her while a wind rose and whipped around the area where Demon and William were standing. It tugged at the loose strands of her long hair. Abruptly, it was gone. Lorne’s arms fell away from her as he stepped back.

There was a hand on her shoulder.

“Buffy,” Spike rumbled.

That voice. His voice.

She spun around and into his arms, losing her battle against the tears. Her arms were around him, under his duster. His duster. Her hands skimmed up his chest, the pain from her fracture forgotten. Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, she raised her eyes from the collar of his shirt, to his pale throat, over his chin, past the fullness of his lower lip, the straight line of his nose, up to the twinkling blue of his eyes.

“Hello, cutie.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. Words failed her so she kissed him.

Oh god, he smelled so good. Leather, tobacco, William and Demon mixed together. She was crying, and kissing him, and somehow they’d ended up lying on the ground. Spike was laughing and kissing her back. “My Buffy, my Buffy,” he was whispering into her mouth. He was a heavy weight on top of her as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

“Uh, should we maybe remind them of where they are?” Wesley asked.

Buffy tightened her grip on Spike, suddenly afraid someone was going to try and take him from her. He groaned and rocked against her, apparently not caring who saw them. His tongue was spiraling around hers.

Gunn snorted. “Be my guest, but don’t come crying to me when you lose a limb.”

“Leave them alone,” Angel growled, voice hoarse, surprising both her and Spike enough that they opened their eyes in shock for a second before becoming lost in the feel of each other again. “Don’t look at me like that. I know what I did, and sorry will never be an adequate enough word. I don’t think I knew what love was until I saw the look in Buffy’s eyes as she, justly, tried to kill me for what I did to them.”

Buffy’s wonder at Angel’s words was quickly forgotten as Spike’s hand landed on her breast. Her broken arm was around his neck, but the other hand pushed its way under his shirt. God, she recognized both William and Demon in him. It was Demon’s cool skin under her fingers but the way his breathing hitched when she grazed his nipple was all William.

“Spike,” she moaned. “I love you.”

“Love you, my Buffy, love you.” His lips worked their way down her neck to fasten over the fang marks Demon had left there. He sucked hard at them and she mewled, her hips undulating against him. Her hand dropped to his belt. The duster would cover everything, wouldn’t it? She couldn’t wait.

“What the sodding hell?” Spike suddenly reared back. A second later she heard it too: multiple loud engines converging on them. Scrubbing a hand over his face, Spike stood and pulled her to her feet just as multiple black Humvees roared down the embankment and skidded to a stop in front of the battered remnants of Angel’s team. Spike’s arm wound around her waist and he growled as Riley, in full combat gear, jumped from the driver’s side of the first Humvee. He yelled orders and other soldiers quickly set up a perimeter.

“We got a massive uptick in demonic energy from somewhere around here. Do you have any ideas?” Riley barked at Angel. With a roll of his eyes, Angel pointed down the valley to where the monster was now a little further away, plowing up a railroad track with its massive head.

“Oh, shit,” one of the other commandos breathed. The nametag on his fatigues said ‘Jorge’ and Buffy though he sounded vaguely familiar. Jorge lifted a pair of night vision binoculars to his eyes, shook his head, and handed them to Riley.

Riley went slack-jawed as he watched the monster wreaking havoc. “What the hell do we do about that…thing?”

Spike kissed the top of her head and stepped forward. “I’m thinking we kill the bloody beast.”


	18. Slayer

and you know you're going to fall

                -Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit”

****

Well, this was less than fun.

Buffy was standing on the roof of one of the Humvees, watching as another five of the vehicles sped towards the monster. Her broken arm hung at her side. She’d refused a sling as it would hamper her movement too much. She had a pair of military binoculars in her good hand, her Scythe at her feet, and was wearing a two-way radio headset. She was linked into a circuit with Riley, Angel and Spike, who were together in the lead vehicle. The conversation was simply scintillating. 

“We had no idea this was going to happen,” Riley reiterated.

Spike snorted. “That’s a load of dog’s bollocks.”                                                          

“We didn’t!” Riley insisted. “Isn’t this the thing you told us about…the...” Riley snapped his fingers. “Thing of Doom, that was it!”

“Oh please, he was talking out of his bloody arse.”

There was a pause. “What?” Riley sounded lost.

“I made it up,” Angel muttered. “I made the whole thing up. There’s no prophecy, no scroll, no Thing of Doom.”

“Then what the heck is that?”

“No idea.” Angel sighed.

There was another pause. “What happened to your face? Did you get tossed from the van when it crashed?”

“Oh, let me! Let me!” Spike’s voice was gleeful. “See, he did something incredibly stupid and the Slayer beat the tar out of him.”

“Huh.” Riley didn’t sound too surprised.

Buffy rolled her eyes. What a treat for her to have those three in a car together. She hadn’t wanted to include Angel, but with her arm fractured, forcing her to stay behind, she couldn’t ignore the fact that they needed his muscle.

Buffy brushed her hair out of her face. There was only one way this could be any more enjoyable. She turned to the commando standing behind her.

“You doing alright, ma’am?” he asked her politely.

She put a hand over her microphone. “Jorge, there’s no way in heck you have a Parker Abrams in your division, is there?”

“Uh, no ma’am, are we supposed to?”

“God, I hope not.”

“What the bloody hell?” Spike’s voice exploded in her ear. “It that wanker there?” Buffy had the sinking feeling she maybe hadn’t blocked her voice as well as she’d hoped. She should have asked about a mute button.

“No, I…” she started.

Riley’s voice went cold. “Parker? Wait, what? What’s Parker doing there? I’m going to seriously-“

“You’re going to what? When I’m done with him there won’t be anything left for you to do anything to!” Spike’s words were slightly slurred, like he’d gone into gameface. Buffy sighed.

“Who’s Parker?” Angel asked.

“Not someone I ever need to see again,” muttered Riley. “Not someone I ever want Buffy to have to see again, either.”

“You?” Spike sputtered. “You? She’s my girl! It’s my right-“

“Stop!” Angel yelled. “I don’t know who this Parker is and I don’t think I want to know, but, damn it, Spike...you won, okay?Buffy’s yours. Me and Riley here are chopped liver, but if you so much as get a hangnail she’s right there to kiss it better. So I get it, though who the hell knows what she sees in your annoying ass.”

Spike snorted. “Maybe it’s because I’ve got a big-“

“Demon- I mean Spike, don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Buffy broke in. At least they were almost to the monster. The amount of testosterone brewing in that Humvee was getting scary.

“You won,” Angel said again.                                              

“I didn’t win sodding anything, mate. Buffy’s not a bloody trophy! I love her!”

“Love you, too.” Buffy said. “Annoying ass and all.”

“You do not think my arse is annoying-”

“I just don’t understand,” Angel interrupted. “I don’t, why him?”

Riley sighed loudly. “Because it’s always been him. They were made in for each other in irritating heaven to bicker with one another for all eternity.” He paused. “You weren’t there, Angel, you didn’t get to see them slowly collide, or you wouldn’t be asking.”

“No,” Angel exhaled sharply. “You’re wrong. I saw the start. That inevitable train wreck began the instant they laid eyes on each other.”

“Wait just a minute!” Spike was indignant.

“We’re not a train wreck, thank you very much.” Seriously. Buffy was fuming. If the eighty-foot tall monster didn’t do him in, she was so going to kick Angel’s butt. Again.

“As fun as this is,” Spike said stiffly. “We’re coming up on the beastie. The other four cars should break off, get behind it and start with the Rambo routine to try to turn it before it reaches what passes for civilization out here. Riley, if you can get close in I’m going to try and climb up the wee thing.”

“What good will that do?” Riley asked.

“I always fancied taking a ride on Godzilla.”

“Um…”

“No, you berk. It’s got an eye. I’ll put something sharp through that and hopefully scramble its brains.”

Buffy stomach dropped and a whimper escaped before she could clamp her lips closed.

“It’s alright, luv,” Spike soothed. “This is a bit of nothing. I’ll be right back with you before you know it.”

“You better.” Buffy cursed her broken arm. She should be right there with him, not stuck fretfully watching. She raised the binoculars to her eyes.

The monster was headed for a stand of date palms as Riley brought the Humvee alongside it. Spike hauled himself through an open window onto the roof of the truck and after a second Angel followed. Riley matched the creature’s speed and both vampires leapt towards it, claws out to grab onto the thick hide. Angel had a sword slung on his back, but Spike had his knife out and ready, sinking the blade into the monster’s flesh to give himself an extra handhold. The creature roared and bucked. Riley sped away to join the other Humvees, which were turning into place to start herding the creature away from populated areas.

Buffy could hardly breathe. The creature’s thrashing had not tossed off either Spike or Angel, and both were making their way up the thing’s side towards its back.

The Humvees were in a line, racing towards the monster. The soldiers leaned out the windows and opened fire with their high powered rifles. The bullets ripped into the creature and it bellowed again.

“Be careful!” Buffy shouted into the mic. “Don’t hit Spike.”

“We’re not trying to,” Riley said. “We’re aiming for its legs.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The creature shuddered to a stop and ponderously turned, fleeing back the way it’d come. Riley whooped his success.

Buffy glanced towards where Wes, Willow and Fred had their heads together, discussing what could be done magically if it became necessary. Gunn was leaning against the hood of the Jeep, watching with binoculars like she was.

Looking back at the creature, Buffy bit her lip as she zoomed the fancy military binoculars in on Spike. He had reached the monster’s back and was working his way towards its neck. Angel wasn’t far behind. The creature was galloping now, the Humvees kicking up dust as they followed, continuing to fire. The monster was headed right for where she was standing.

“We should probably relocate,” Jorge said, nervously. “Round the others up and skedaddle out of that thing’s way.”

“Wait,” Buffy breathed.

Spike was clinging to the monster’s neck. “Bloody hell, this isn’t easy,” his voice puffed into Buffy’s ear. “And now that I’m here I’m not sure I’m going to be able to reach its eye. We need a plan B.”

“Buffy,” Angel said, sounding strained. “Remember your solution for The Judge?”

“Oh, hell yeah.”

Spike growled softly. “I was in the sodding chair at the time, do you two want to share with the rest of the class?”

“Rocket launcher.” Buffy could feel herself grinning from ear-to-ear. “Do you think you can get it to open its mouth?”

“Sure, piece of cake.” Spike grunted.

Buffy turned to Jorge. “You guys got a rocket launcher with you?”

“Do you know how to work it?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “I got one for my birthday once.” With a small frown Jorge jumped down and took off towards one of the other trucks. “Willow!” Buffy called.

“You look like you got an idea.” Willow trotted over to stand next to the Humvee Buffy was perched on.

“Do you remember my seventeenth birthday?”

“When you boinked Angel, turned him into Angelus, and he nearly destroyed the world?”

Buffy groaned. She was never going to live that down. “Yes, that birthday, but not that part. I mean when we took out The Judge in the mall.”

“Oh!” Willow lit up. “Rocket launcher!”

“Yup.”

Jorge returned, panting, with the requested item cradled in his arms.

“Do you think you and Wes could give it a little more punch? That creature is hella huge.” Buffy’s eyes were back on the rapidly approaching monster. She could see Spike and Angel making agonizingly slow progress towards the thing’s beaked head.

Willow nodded. “Sure. Two seconds.”

Wes staggered as Jorge handed the rocket launcher to him. Grunting, Wes bent down and Willow put her hands on the weapon as they both chanted.

Gunn was nervously looking between Buffy and the galloping monster that was looming ever closer. The ground had started to tremble under them from the impact of the creature’s feet.

Finishing, Wes struggled to hold the launcher up to her. Buffy snagged it one-handed and easily lifted it, but her broken arm was going to be an issue. Seeing the problem, Jorge quickly helped her to position the launcher on her shoulder.

“Spike, we’re set up here,” she said into the mic.

“Trying. This isn’t as fun as it looks.”

She peered through the sights on the launcher. Spike was having trouble getting up the smooth scales right by the creature’s head. He had his knife dug in and was hanging from that, trying to scramble higher, but his claws couldn’t seem to find purchase.

“Spike!” Angel hollered from a few feet below the other vamp. Buffy watched, amazed, as Angel pulled the sword that was his own handhold out of the creature’s neck and tossed it to Spike. Grinning, Spike snatched the sword out of the air and plunged in into the monster’s flesh, creating another place for him to hold. The monster shook its neck and Angel lost his grip, plummeting to the ground below.  

Using both weapons, Spike quickly climbed his way to the corner of the creature’s gigantic beak.

The Humvee under Buffy’s feet was rattling as the monster closed in on her.

“Ready, Joan?” Spike asked. She couldn’t see, but she knew he was grinning.

“Ready, Randy.”

The sword in Spike’s hand flashed in the moonlight as he drove it up into the roof of the monster’s mouth.

With an angry roar the monster opened its jaw wide. Its fleshy tongue flopped as it tried to dislodge Spike and the sword.

Buffy fired.

The rocket left a white trail as it flew towards the creature’s maw. Buffy didn’t even dare to breath.

The shot went true, zooming past Spike and into the creature’s gullet. There was a muffled explosion and gore rained out of the back of the monster’s neck. Its stride faltered.

There was a cheer from the onlookers.

The creature toppled forward, its heavy carcass plowing into the sand, still headed right for where Buffy was. She didn’t move. Spike was scrambling to keep his grip. The monster’s huge head hit the sand and bounced. Spike managed to stay on top, holding onto the handle of his knife. Around her, people were running to get out of the way, but Buffy never took her eyes off Spike.

The creature slid, dust billowing into the air. Finally, it came to rest, the tip of its beak not ten feet from the front of the Humvee Buffy was standing on. She scrambled down as Spike jumped from the creature’s head. He was running to her. She leapt into his arms, her legs wrapping around him and her good hand gripping his shoulder.

“Told you I’d be right back,” he smirked.

She kissed him. There was a cheer from the watching soldiers. She was pretty sure the happy squeal came from Lorne.

“Hey.” Angel voice crackled weakly over the radio. “Can I get a little help here?”

****

Buffy and Spike elected to ride back to Wolfram and Hart with Fred in the Jeep. The injured Gunn was in the front passenger seat.

“When we get back I’d really like to take you to the lab, Spike, just to run a few tests and make sure everything’s okay,” Fred said, glancing over her shoulder.

“Watch the road,” Gunn snapped.

Fred sighed.

“Sure,” Spike said. “Just don’t expect more than a few minutes. I need to talk with my girl.”

Buffy flushed with happiness and squeezed Spike’s fingers, which were interlaced with her own. They could certainly talk. They could talk all night. She snuggled her head against his shoulder and Spike tenderly kissed her brow. The whole world seemed alive with possibilities. They could go anywhere, do anything. Or live like hermits in a one-room shack in the woods. It really didn’t matter, as long as they were together.

“That’s fine, there’s just some electromagnetic signatures I want to check.” Fred sped up and switched to the left lane to pass a sedan.

“You didn’t use your blinker,” Gunn said, and dropped his head into his hands.

Fred heaved another sigh. “This is why we always let him drive.”

****

Buffy was sitting on one of the lab benches, watching as Fred scanned Spike with some kind of contraption. Willow was sitting next to Buffy, and the rest of the banged up crew were scattered around the lab. Angel was handcuffed and sitting dejectedly on a chair in the corner. Fred was going to run a few tests on him after finishing with Spike.

“Maybe we should stick Spike in a CT scanner,” Willow said with a smile. “I’ve always kind of wondered if there’s anything inside his head.”

Spike looked heavenward. “Hey, now Red. I remember being right useful with the research a few days ago.”

“I know.” Willow smiled wider. “But I’m really glad to see you as, well, you. And it just wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t tease you.”

Spike looked surprised.

Buffy lightly elbowed her friend. “Be nice.”

 “Uh,” Angel spoke up from his corner. “Guys, I’m really sorry-“

“Do shut up,” Wesley said from where he was leaning on another bench, watching Fred.

Angel returned to staring at the floor.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you remember from being split?” Gunn crossed his arms and tapped his fingers against his bicep.  Buffy leaned forward, glad she wasn’t the one that had to bring it up.

“I remember all of it, of course. Mite confusing because of being in two places at the same time, but it’s not a blank or a blur, if that’s what you mean.”

“Even from the demon’s perspective?” Wes asked.

Spike cracked his neck. “Yeah, mate. It’s a demon, my demon, not a sodding dog. Not being able to talk doesn’t mean it didn’t have a rational, thinking brain.” He looked over at Buffy.

She blew him a kiss and he relaxed a fraction. It made her wonder if he was worried that she thought the same thing. “You didn’t spend time with Demon like you did William, Wes,” she said. “Demon was still Spike, still clever and loving.” 

Spike’s face got that goofy, adoring look that always melted her insides.

“Well, I can’t find anything wrong with you.” Fred turned off the scanner with a decisive click. “You seem completely back to normal.” She leaned on a nearby stone sarcophagus-type thing that was awaiting cataloging. “You’re free to go.”

“Thanks, Fred. I owe you a lot.” Spike tipped an imaginary hat at her.

“Uh, Fredikins…” Lorne started upright.

There was a rasping sound from the sarcophagus.

“What the?” Fred leaned forward, examining the semi-precious stones attached to the lid.

There was a puff of air.

“ _Congelo_ ,” Willow barked, hand outstretched. The blow powder the air had been carrying was frozen in place. Spike hauled Fred away from it by the back of her shirt. She was shaking. Wes held his hand out and Fred collapsed against his chest.

“What is it?” Buffy asked.

“No idea, but it’s not a good thing, I’m sure.” Keeping her hand outstretched, Willow walked to the sarcophagus. She closed her eyes and slowly the powder reversed itself and disappeared back into the hole it’d come from. “ _Sero_ ,” Willow whispered and the stone that had previously been blocking a hole in the sarcophagus moved back into place. “There, that should hold it for a little while.”

Gunn was picking up a phone. “I’ll get the whole thing into containment right now. And, sorry boss, but you’re going to spend the night in the cells. We’ll figure all this crap out tomorrow.”

“Look.” Angel struggled to his feet. “I know I seriously got things wrong this time-“

“Oh, sing me another one,” Lorne said with a look of disgust.

Angel sighed in defeat.

Buffy hopped down from the counter and Spike put an arm around her.

“I’m more than ready to get you alone, luv,” he rumbled into her ear. Lust, thick and hot, stabbed through her belly. Getting back to the room was going to be problematic. She wanted to strip him naked and examine every last inch of him with her eyes, and hands, and preferably tongue.

“Yeah,’ she managed to say. Her mind was blanking and her knees were no longer cooperating with the rest of her.

Chuckling, Spike picked her up. “Shall we then, Slayer?”


	19. Thing of Doom & Epilogue

And the truth is plain to see

                -Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

 

****

They’d made it to the bed.

Barely.

Buffy was on her back, clothes gone, with her hair mussed and Spike on top of her. His duster, boots, and shirt were gone, but he still had his jeans on. How very William of him. Her hands were running up and down his back and her mouth was glued to his.

Spike had his arms around her and was pressing his entire body tight against hers. Like he was afraid she was going to disappear. Finally, she managed to break the kiss. “Are you okay?” she panted.

“Yes...no...I don’t know. Need you.” He tried to capture her lips again, but she turned her head and his mouth went to her throat instead.

“Spike, uhh-“

He’d found Demon’s fang marks and started sucking on them while rocking his hips harder against her. A freight train of white hot lust seared its way from where his mouth was on her neck to crash into her mound as it rubbed against the front of his pants.

Abruptly he stilled.

“Hey,” she said weakly.

Spike’s tongue flicked over the bite mark and she moaned. “Why’d you let me do this?” he whispered against her throat.

“Because you wanted to, and it was important to you.”

“But, weren’t you afraid?”

Her hand went to his cheek. “No, it was you. You wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Demon, was, well…a soulless demon.”

Buffy sighed. “I know, but I still trusted you not to do something that would upset or hurt me or William.”

Spike closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

She gently petted the nape of his neck. Her brow creased. “Spike…” He gazed down at her. “Are you afraid of me? That I might hurt you?”

He bowed his head so it was resting against her shoulder. There was a pause before he nodded.  

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can only show you, day after day, that I won’t.” She sucked in a deep breath. “As much as I hated it, maybe it was a good thing I grieved for you for as long as I did. I couldn’t hide from what I was feeling and I sure did spend a lot of time imagining what it’d be like if you were given back to me. Though I never got even close to what actually happened.”

Spike snorted. “And what did you imagine, luv?”

“Not so much talking.”

He chuckled. “Is that right?”

“Less pants, too, William,” she pouted.

Spike shook his head. He rolled them so they were on their sides. His eyes widened slightly and his face softened. “Miss Buffy,” his voice took on the higher pitch and more formal tone of William’s speech. “Without me and Demon being here, I am rather concerned that you will not be as…fulfilled as you have become used to being over the last little while.”

Spike rolled over again, so she was on her other side. He was wearing his demon face. Gently, he ran a claw down her cheek and cooed softly.

With an effort she returned to her back with Spike on top of her. The demon features melted away.

“I want you,” Buffy whispered. “I want Spike, however I can get you. If you need me to I’ll run to the roof of this building and scream that I love you into the night. I’ll paint that I belong to you onto my body and walk naked down Hollywood Boulevard. I’ll make love to you at midnight on Venice Beach. But there’s one thing I’ll never do…”

He raised his scarred eyebrow.

“I’ll never let you go.”

“Oh god, Buffy.” He trembled beneath her hands. “I don’t want you to do anything but be here with me now, luv.”

His mouth claimed hers again as her hands eased between their bodies and worked his fly open. Using her feet, she pushed his jeans down and off. With a deft twist of his hips he plunged his cock to the hilt inside her.

She wrapped her legs securely around him as he pressed every inch of skin he could against her. Their palms pressed together and their fingers intertwined. So tightly were they entangled that Spike could do little more than rock his hips while she squeezed him in rhythm with her inner muscles. Buffy could barely tell where she ended and he began.

“I love you,” she moaned into his mouth, over and over, rejoicing each time he repeated it back to her.

Her thighs trembled and she came, fireworks popping behind her eyelids. Spike adjusted them so his knees were braced better and he could pull back a few inches before slamming into her. The headboard rapped against the wall, an exclamation point to each frenzied thrust.

Panting harshly, she came again, a litany of ‘I love you’s continuing to fall from her lips.

Spike returned each one, the volume increasing as his climax approached. Buffy was breathing raggedly and milking his cock hard with the walls of her pussy.

With a low, guttural moan he came, thrusting a few more times before collapsing on her and lying still even as his cock still twitched inside her.

She ran her hands up and down his spine. Marveling that he was real, that he was there with her. For whatever magic, done by whomever, that had split Spike, Buffy was entirely grateful. Without it, even if he’d regained his body some other way, she had the horrible, sinking feeling that he would have listened to his own insecurities and Angel’s poisoned words. Without having been transformed into William and Demon, Spike may never have demanded to see her. The thought made her both sad and angry.

But those were only hypothetical what-ifs that didn’t matter right now. The important part was the purring vampire with the goofy grin who was lying in her arms.

The one she loved.

The one in all the world she was going to spend forever with.

The one that made her feel complete.

****

_Six weeks later._

Ugh. She felt gross. This was the third morning in a row she’d woken up and immediately puked her guts up. She’d been a lot more tired than usual as well. It’d been years since she’d been sick. At first Buffy had thought it was food poisoning, but now she was starting to get worried.

Spike was frantic.

She could hear him on the phone as she leaned against the bathroom wall and waited for the waves of nausea to pass.

He came into the tiny bathroom of their basement apartment and handed her the phone. Crouching beside her, worry etched into every line of his face, he gently touched her forehead. “It’s Willow,” he said.

“Hello?” she said into the cell.

“Hi Buffy!” Willow sounded way too cheery for whatever time of the morning it was. “Spike was sort of desperate and garbled, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve got some bug.”

“Can you describe the symptoms?”

“I’ve been tired and I’ve tossed cookies the last couple of mornings.”

“Huh. And you have no idea at all as to what could be wrong?”

“No, it’s kind of scary because I haven’t been sick since I got the flu junior year.”

Willow sighed. “Look, I’m going to pop in for a few minutes to check you over and do a witchy thing to help diagnosis you. Do you think you could pee in a cup for me?”

“Eww, gross.” She wrinkled her nose. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, it’ll make things easier for me. See you in a few.”

“Bye.” Buffy hung up the phone.

“What’d she say?” Spike worriedly asked. He looked almost as bad as she felt.

“She’s going to come and examine me and I have to pee in a cup.”

“Witch thing?”

“Witch thing.”

Ten minutes later they were sitting on the love seat when Willow appeared with a snap of magical energy. She shook her head and turned to face them. “There you are. Did you do what I asked?”

“Um, I left it on the counter by the sink.”

Willow, who’d brought the scent of jasmine incense with her, strode into the bathroom. The odor made Buffy’s stomach queasy again and she slipped onto Spike’s lap and pushed her nose against his neck so that he was the only thing she could smell.

A few seconds later Willow walked back out with a silly grin on her face.

“Congrats!”

Buffy frowned. “What? Is there nothing wrong with me?”

“Nothing that about nine months won’t cure.”

Buffy glanced up at Spike, but he looked as confused as her.

“Just spit it out, Red, you’re killing us.”

Willow looked heavenward. “Buffy, you’re pregnant.”

“What?” Her face paled. “I can’t be pregnant!” she said at the same time Spike jumped to his feet, nearly dumping her on her ass.

“What the hell is going on?” he roared at her.

“Willow,” Buffy pleaded. “You have to be wrong. I haven’t been with anyone but Spike for years.”

Willow massaged her temples. “You remember the guy with the heartbeat and glasses that you were all over about a month and a half ago?”

Huh? What was Willow talking about? Six weeks ago had been Demon and...

“Oh my god!” Her heart leapt into her throat. This was real. She slapped Spike on the chest. “You got me pregnant.”

“I did?” He looked down like his dick might answer.

Willow sighed deeply. “Spike, I don’t suppose that, as William, you remembered to run to the nearest convenience store and stock up on condoms before going at it like crazy with the girl you’d been missing terribly.”

“Oh.” He looked sheepish. “Uh, no.” Buffy locked eyes with him and she knew her face probably matched his own goofy expression as she quickly replayed a number of situations in her head, any one of which could have resulted in her getting knocked up. Spike’s eyes suddenly got very wide. “You’re pregnant!” he blurted and wrapped himself around her.

“What’re you doing?” She pushed ineffectively at his chest.

He hugged her tighter. “I’ve got to protect you and the wee bit.”

“By smothering me?”

“Uh,” Willow said. “I’m just going to go and let you guys work this out. I’ll come visit in a couple of months and we can have a mall day to shop for maternity clothes.”

“Maternity clothes?”

Willow smiled enigmatically and disappeared.

Jeans with elastic waists and shirts that looked more like tarps danced in front of her eyes. Buffy’s stomach started to rebel again. “Spike, let me go.”

“No! Going to keep you safe.”

“I need to barf.”

He quickly released her, though he followed approximately two millimeters behind her and loving held her hair while she heaved.

It was going to be a very long nine months.

****

_A year later._

Buffy stood in the doorway to the nursery, leaning back against Spike’s chest. His arms were wrapped around her and he was nuzzling her neck.

William Jr., who had his dad’s bright blue eyes, high cheekbones, and sandy curls (but her toes) was peacefully sleeping, and drooling—also just like his dad—on Angel’s shoulder. Angel himself had nodded off while leaning back in the rocking chair.

After the fiasco at the church, Angel’s team had determined that he was simply an idiot, not a threat. They’d turned their backs on him and he’d disappeared into the streets of Los Angeles.

It’d taken all of Gunn’s legal know-how, but eventually everyone had been released from their contracts with Wolfram and Hart. They’d returned to the Hyperion and begun to build a new life, still trying to help those in need.

Spike had liberated a few things from the Wolfram and Hart vault and used the money to buy a house down the coast from Los Angeles. It was a good place to raise a family. The next town over had a very small hellmouth, just enough to keep things interesting without dumping endless apocalypses on their doorstep.

When Buffy had been seven months pregnant and grouchy as a grizzly bear, not to mention feeling roughly the size of an elephant, she’d opened the door early one evening to find a half-starved Angel on her doorstep.

He’d looked near skeletal and had barely been able to string two words together, but eventually he’d managed to ask if they had any blood he could have.

To her surprise, Spike had invited him in. Family, she’d had to remind herself.

Angel had showered and she’d laundered his clothes, which had stunk to high heaven. Spike had pressed mug after mug of blood on him until Angel had politely refused. He’d then slept for three days.

When he’d awoken, he’d again said very little besides thanking them. His eyes had kept darting to her pregnant belly and finally she’d asked him if he wanted to touch. Angel had nodded, kneeling before her and lightly laying his hand over where she said the baby’s feet where. He’d closed his eyes and when the baby had kicked he’d began to weep. Brokenly, Angel had managed to relay the entire story of Conner to them.

Buffy had been shocked.

Spike had squeezed his grandsire’s hands at the end and had offered to drive him to L.A. after nightfall. Reluctantly, the old team had given Angel permission to live at the hotel and start helping.

Angel remained quiet, going about his duties in near silence. Initially, Fred had been weirded out and she and Buffy, who talked nearly daily on the phone, worried about him. But in the end they’d concluded that Angel might actually have learned something.

The oddest thing was that Angel had started driving down once a week to have dinner with her and Spike. Angel still hardly spoke, but afterwards he’d go out and patrol with Spike before returning to the city.

When the baby had come, with a lot of yelling and screaming—most of which had been Buffy’s—Spike, of course, had been on cloud nine. He’d taken to dragging every nurse, doctor, and sanitation worker he could find into the hospital room to proudly point out how wonderful his son was. It’d been a relief to go home. Not that she didn’t agree that William was the best baby ever.

Angel had been delighted. Holding the little guy was the first time Buffy had seen him smile in months. Once a week he still faithfully appeared, only now he stayed with little William while Spike and she ran around the local cemeteries. Which really didn’t take that long, so there was also a lot of lovemaking in the moonlight on the beach.

“Do you think he misses Conner?” Spike whispered, pulling her back to the here and now.

“Yeah, I do. The thought that one day Will’s going to grow up and drive a car and go to college terrifies me. I can’t imagine missing a single day between now and then.”

Spike’s hands tightened against her. “Me either. I want every moment I can with Tod.”

“Would you quit calling him that,” she groaned. “He’s going to end up with a complex.”

“Nope.” Spike kissed the side of her neck, making her knees weak.

It’d started as a joke when she’d been pregnant, that the baby was the “Thing of Doom” since it was going to change their lives so much. Eventually ‘Thing of Doom’ had been shortened to the initials T.O.D. and then just flat out Tod. Spike had even tried to get her to use it as the baby’s middle name. She’d refused and the birth certificate read: William Pratt, Jr.

Spike still called him Tod. And so did everyone else, except Buffy.

“You ready for the old man to come and visit tomorrow?” Spike asked between kisses.

Giles was flying in to see her. He didn’t know about Tod…er, William. So that was going to be interesting. It’d taken Buffy a long time to be able to forgive Giles enough to want to see him, and surprisingly it’d been Spike that had given her the final push to call and invite her Watcher. Making peace with Angel had made him want to help her heal her relationships as well.

On the phone Giles had sounded so happy. He’d probably never say it, but he’d obviously missed her.

William stirred and Angel immediate woke up. The baby’s face screwed up as he prepared to howl.

“That’s your cue,” Spike said with a chuckle. “The Thing of Doom wants his nummies.”

The doorbell rang as Angel handed William to her. She pulled the front of her shirt aside and the baby eagerly started drinking. He was always such a hungry little thing, even though he already had the most adorable round cheeks and chubby thighs.

Buffy knew without a doubt she had the cutest baby on the planet.

“We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow,” Spike’s voice carried loudly down the hallway.

“I was able to catch an earlier flight.” Giles’ familiar clipped tone made her smile.  Angel, however, looked panicked and Buffy waved a hand to indicate he should head out the back door. With a grateful nod he vanished.

“Well, mate, it’s lucky the little bugger was already awake or I would have had your hide for ringing the doorbell this late.”

“Whatever are you talking about? Is Buffy here?”

“She’ll be out in minute, why don’t you sit down and take a load off?”

When William finished she straightened her clothes, burped him, and carried him out into the living room. Giles was sitting on the couch, discussing something about Slayer recruitment with Spike, who looked bored to tears.

Spike saw her and lit up. “There they are!”

“They?” Giles turned and his mouth dropped open. Fumbling, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned his glasses.

William was happily gurgling and kicking his legs.

“You should be asleep, young man,” Spike told him sternly, chucking him under the chin.

Giles was looking frantically between Will and Spike. Buffy waited, because they really did look alike. Even Giles couldn’t doubt who Will’s father was.

“Good Lord, you had a baby,” Giles finally said, weakly.

Buffy grinned and carefully handed William to Giles. Her Watcher looked down at the little boy, stunned. William tried out one of his new smiles and waved his hands at Giles.

“Oh,” Buffy exclaimed. “He likes you!”

Giles visibly melted. “I’m certain he’s a very smart young man.”

Spike’s fingers found hers and squeezed. “Of course he is! And out of all of them, Tod here really turned out to be the very best Thing of Doom.”

_~FIN~_

 

**Epilogue**

_Two years later..._

The telly was on low, showing the local news and weather. It sounded like it might rain, which their yard desperately needed.

Spike chuckled to himself.

 O, how the mighty had fallen.

He’d become so domesticated that he took the trash out without being asked every Tuesday night.

And he’d thought the bloody chip had tamed him. That bit of plastic and wires had nothing on his own heartstrings.

There was high-pitched squeal from the direction of the bathroom.

“Will, get back here this instant and get dressed!” Buffy hollered as Tod, on his chubby toddler legs, careened into the living room. He had the shirt to his pajamas on, but was naked from the waist down.

Spike raised an eyebrow at his son. “I know how you feel, mate.”  Quickly he scooped the boy up, kissed his damp mop of curls, and deposited him on the far side of the ottoman. “Now crouch down or she’ll find you.”

“ ‘ide n seek?” Tod asked, grinning delightedly.

“Just so.” Spike sat back down on the couch, picked up the copy of _Shawshank Redemption_ he’d been reading, and put a foot up on the ottoman.

“Will?” Buffy called again. She walked into the living room and put her hands on her hips. She eyed Spike. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen our son anywhere, have you?”

He didn’t look up from his book. “Can’t say that I have. Did you lose him again?”

She huffed.

Giggles erupted from behind the ottoman.

“No idea at all where a little, half-naked boy could be?” She crossed her arms, but a smile was playing around her lips.

“Nope.”

The giggles got louder.

“I think you might be fibbing.” Buffy raised her voice slightly. “Do you think Daddy’s fibbing?”

Tod popped up, his hands over his mouth like he could keep the giggles in that way. “Daddy fibbin’!”

Spike put his book down and leaned forward. “You trying to get me in trouble with your mum?”

Tod’s face fell. “She spank you?” he asked, looking anxious.

“I don’t know. You going to spank me for fibbing, pet?” He tried to sound innocent.

“Just you wait.”

He liked the sound of that. Spike winked at her and to his delight she blushed. Apparently his Slayer was having a few naughty thoughts of her own. 

Tod held his arms out to him and he picked his son up. “Mummy’s not really mad,” he reassured the boy. “And for someone who’s never even got a proper telling off, you worry far too much about spankings.”

Tod yawned and sleepily put his arms around Spike’s neck. “Daddy read?”

“You going to put your pants on?”

The boy made a face, then nodded. “The one ‘bout the pirate?”

“Aye, matey.” Spike had read the book so many times he had it memorized, but he’d read it a thousand more if Tod wanted him to.

Buffy kissed both him and the boy. “Be good for Daddy, Will. I love you.” She laid a hand on Spike’s arm. “I’ll get the dishes.”

He leaned in close to her. “Then spankings?” he whispered and briefly traced the outer shell of her ear with his tongue.

Buffy trembled. “Only if you’re very, very good.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and sharing in my craziness! If you enjoyed please drop me a few words in a comment or hit that kudo's button (I seriously can't help but keep track ;-) And feel free to do so whether your reading this ten seconds or ten years after I first posted it! 
> 
> I hope you had half as much fun reading about Demon and William as I did writing them!


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